IMPLEMENTING A SUSTAINABLE WASTE REDUCTION STRATEGY: A CASE STUDY AT GENERAL MOTORS

Abstract

In congruence with General Motors launching a Zero Waste circular economy program, it has committed to diverting more than 90% of operational waste from landfills and thermal processing facilities by 2025. To achieve this goal for GM North America, a methodical waste reduction program was developed through the amalgamation of two interrelated strategies, the Strategic Planning Process and the Operational Strategy Process. This dual approach benefits from a companywide integrated focus on the organization’s strategic goals, yet remains efficient and engaging on a facility level, allowing for operational flexibility of design. To implement this novel methodology, GM established the team-of-teams approach to program management, creating roles in both the Sustainability team and Strategic Programs & Partnerships (SP2) team. The Sustainability team took ownership of the Strategic Planning Process, designing the Zero Waste tracking methodology and establishing annual waste diversion targets for the corporation. The SP2 team led the Operational Strategy Process, owning the specific Zero Waste Budget, and creating waste-centric innovation workshops, such as the Zero Waste Treasure Hunt program and Zero Waste Mini-Missions, which focused on quality improvement techniques, such as PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) and DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control). Projects that are ideated through the program are then submitted through the Zero Waste Projects Module, where they are reviewed based on various funding guidelines and prioritization benchmarks, ensuring funds are awarded to high impact ventures. This methodology has proven successful in surpassing 2021 diversion targets, with a real world 2021 diversion rate of 86.4%, and setting the groundwork to further expand support to meet the company’s Zero Waste diversion glidepath through 2025.