{"id":4623,"date":"2010-12-27T12:24:15","date_gmt":"2010-12-27T17:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2022-12-30T15:49:20","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T20:49:20","slug":"gm-recycles-bp-gulf-oil-spill-waste-into-volt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/gm-recycles-bp-gulf-oil-spill-waste-into-volt\/","title":{"rendered":"GM Recycles BP Gulf Oil Spill Waste Into Volt"},"content":{"rendered":"

General Motors<\/a>\"GM<\/a> (NYSE: GM<\/a>) has intercepted 100 miles of used oil control booms from the BP Gulf of Mexico mega oil spill<\/a>,<\/strong> (which I wrote about here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a><\/em>) preventing them from going into landfills. Instead, TheDetroitBureau.com<\/em><\/a> reports<\/a> that oil-soaked booms are transformed into plastic parts for the Chevy Volt<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"chevy_volt_logo\"<\/a>Mike Robinson, GM vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety policy explained to TheDetroitBureau<\/em> that the automaker has been able to recycle the polypropylene plastics used in the oil booms set out to contain and capture the oil spilled by a runaway British Petroleum<\/a> (BP<\/a>) well. GM and its suppliers are turning the recycled material into plastic parts used in the Volt, such as a shroud for the radiator<\/strong> according to GM. \u201cCreative recycling is one extension of GM\u2019s overall strategy to reduce its environmental impact,<\/em>\u201d Mr. Robinson said, the Detroit-based automaker already finds ways to cut landfilling<\/strong> at 76 of its facilities. The recycling of Gulf oil<\/a> booms, he added, \u201cis a good example of using this expertise and applying it to a greater magnitude<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the article, Chris Miller vice president of sales and market for GDC Inc<\/a>. says the old booms are mixed with other recycled material, including used tires, and processed to yield a plastic resin which can be shaped into a variety of plastic parts. \u201cThe recycled resin is a lot less expensive than virgin resin<\/em><\/strong>,\u201d he said. In fact, GM\u2019s Robinson described the overall process as \u201ccost-neutral,\u201d meaning the final parts and components cost the same as those produced by more conventional processes.<\/p>\n

“Recycling the booms will result in the production of more than 100,000 pounds of plastic resin for the vehicle components,<\/em>\u201d said John Bradburn, manager of GM\u2019s waste-reduction efforts, eliminating an equal amount of waste that would otherwise have been incinerated or sent to landfills. \u201cThis was purely a matter of helping out,<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Mr. Bradburn told TheDetroitBureau<\/em>. \u201cIf sent to a landfill, these materials would have taken hundreds of years to begin to break down<\/strong>, and we didn\u2019t want to see the spill further impact the environment. We knew we could identify a beneficial reuse of this material given our experience<\/em>\u201d Mr. Bradburn added.<\/p>\n

\"bp_oil_spill_booms\"<\/a><\/p>\n

GM’s Bradburn says the project demonstrates the booms, which are also widely used around construction projects and limited spills, don\u2019t have to be buried or burned but can be recycled. He also noted it should encourage the manufacturers of the booms to make them easier to recycle.<\/p>\n

TheDetroitBureau<\/em> says besides GDC, GM worked with several partners throughout the recovery and development processes. Heritage Environmental<\/a> managed the collection of boom materials along the Louisiana coast. Mobile Fluid Recovery stepped in next, using a massive high-speed drum that spun the booms until dry and eliminated all the absorbed oil and wastewater. Lucent Polymers<\/a> used its process to then manipulate the material into the physical state necessary for plastic die-mold production.<\/p>\n

rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hmm- something must be changing at GM, when I worked at the GM tech center in the 1990s there were not many green efforts. Even if this is a marketing ploy to beef up the Volt’s green-cred’s, it is a good step. Let’s hope they keep up the imaginative thinking.<\/em><\/p>\n

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