An Auto Factory as "Green" as Its Cars

[laurieaw]

Subaru's "Zero Landfill Waste" Auto Plant Raises the Bar

John DiPietro - Edmunds - Jan. 18, 2008

When you think of a "green" car company, do you automatically think of one that makes low-emission cars? That's all well and good, but what about the tremendous environmental impact of the vehicle production process? An auto factory isn't something that barrels into your environmental consciousness like a 3-ton SUV. But it's time we looked beyond the cars in the showrooms to how those cars are made.

When you do think of a car factory, you probably envision something akin to the smoke-spewing industrial plants of Charles Dickens' London. But there's one car factory that's as far removed from that bleak stereotype as a Hummer is from a Greenpeace convention's parking lot — specifically, Subaru's sole U.S. plant, which goes by the name of Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA). ...[Read More]

[Chuck]

Anyone realize that homes and factories may have a bigger environmental impact than our cars?

[BailOut]

Chuck,

From an overall consumption and emission standpoint you're absolutely right, but if you look it per capita or per product cars usually come out as the most wasteful.

Think about it. Most dwellings have 2 or more people living in them so all of the tenants numbers are cut at least in half. Most factories employ lots of people and produce durable goods.

However, most cars - regardless of their weight and size - spend the majority of their usage time hauling just a single person around.

[Chuck]

Bailout, I won't disagree with you - just pointing out other areas that need attention.

[ILAveo]

It's good that they are pushing for zero landfill waste, but it strikes me that some of the efforts the reporter empahsized are just greenwashing. In particular, anybody who handles large amounts of metals recycles their steel and anybody with large numbers of pallets recycles them (they are worth several dollars each). On the other hand, the intermediate packaging of cardboard and plastics seems like the tough part to recycle. Kudos to them for their effort.

I doubt that the "zero landfill waste" claim is literally true after reading the article. It sounds like the plant has an associated CHP plant to incinerate employee waste that probably produces a waste stream of ash that would likely be landfilled. The paint solvent filtering process the author discussed also probably produces a paint solids waste stream that would ultimately be landfilled as hazardous waste.

It sounds like their effort is worthwhile; now if they would just focus on FE a bit more...

[WriConsult]

I agree with ILAveo's last point: Subaru's environmental efforts around this plant are laudable. But as a current and otherwise loyal Subaru owner who is selling his car to get something with better fuel economy, I hope Subaru will start making more fuel efficient vehicles. Soon.

[Blake]

Hopefully the RE4 will come out instead of sitting in limbo like it has. Just another reason why I love Subaru so much... great company.

[GreenBlues]

The manufacturing plant I work at and I'm sure this is true of most manufacturing plants these days including this Subaru plant gets a tremendous amount of parts form china. To survive the trip, the amount of packaging material is in most cases is just staggering. Sometimes I wonder if the packing material costs as much as the part. Although the efforts of this plant are noteworthy, trees are still being consumed to produce the tons of cardboard and lots of oil consumed to produce the tons of plastic packaging material.

[Blake]

Very true, but from the article I understand that the majority of it is recycled. Obviously not using any would be best.. but I wonder how many plants actually just trash their cardboard and plastic instead of recycling it.

[Chuck]

DETROIT (AP) - Hybrids like the Toyota Prius may offer drivers instant recognition for buying an environmentally friendly vehicle.

But Ford and other automakers are showing that what goes into making cars is another key way to be green.

Ford recently unveiled the Lincoln MKT concept touring vehicle partially made of plastic bottles and polyester waste. The Dearborn automaker also has a soy-based seat foam on its 2008 Mustang, F-150 pickup and Expedition sport utility vehicle.

Honda and Hyundai also are using plant-based and recycled materials in their vehicles.

An analyst says it may be more difficult than selling a hybrid. But automakers should be able to market these materials to buyers -- provided they don't have to pay more.