Honda is cleaning up its act.The Japanese-based automaker announced Thursday that 10 of its 14 North American manufacturing plants are now zero-waste-to-landfill facilities.
Honda defines zero-waste-to-landfill as absolutely zero operating waste sent to landfills, including not only production, but all office and cafeteria waste associated with manufacturing operations.
The Honda plant in Lincoln was the first of the companyâ??s North American plants to reach the goal of zero waste when it opened a decade ago.
Charles Ernst, senior vice president at the Lincoln plant and the man originally responsible for making the facility zero waste, said Honda always strives to improve.
â??We wanted to be good corporate stewards, to be good corporate citizens going forward and reduce amounts sent to landfills,â?? Ernst said. â??Then other plants started looking at us and they started making adjustments.â??
Through its zero-waste efforts the Lincoln Honda plant annually recycles approximately 4 million pounds of cardboard, 500,000 pounds of plastic and 20,000 pounds of aluminum cans.
The $1.5 billion Lincoln plant employs 4,000 people and typically produces more than 300,000 vehicles and engines each year, including the Odyssey minivan, the Ridgeline pickup and the Pilot SUV.
According to the company, Honda has reduced waste shipped from its other North American plants to landfills from 62.8 pounds of industrial waste per every automobile produced to about 1.8 pounds per vehicle. Among all of its 14 plants in North America, Honda now sends less than one-half of 1 percent of all operating waste to landfills. Remaining waste product is either recycled or used for energy recovery.
Bill Visnic, auto analyst and senior editor for Edmonds.com, said Honda is a leader in the automotive industry when it comes to recycling production waste.
â??If theyâ??re not leading, they definitely have to be near the top,â?? Visnic said.
Visnic said in decades past, automakers were some of the largest waste-producing companies in the country.
â??Thatâ??s really the way the industry was,â?? Visnic said. â??But people have taken a look at manufacturing and have really made an effort to reverse that.â??
Keith Tassin, director of science and stewardship for the Alabama chapter of the Nature Conservancy, said any effort to reduce usage of landfills was a good thing for the environment.
The Nature Conservancy is an organization dedicated to preserving the plants, animals and natural communities by protecting the land and water they need to survive.
â??There are so many issues when it comes to landfills â?¦. Water quality issues and the landfillâ??s footprint â?¦ so anything the industry can do to reduce the use of them is big,â?? Tassin said. â??I think itâ??s a great commitment for the company to do that.â??
Tassin added that Alabama in particular should be protected since it has the widest diversity of fresh-water organisms of any state in the country.
â??This does show (Honda) is environmentally conscious and making an effort,â?? he said.
Visnic pointed out that many automakers are trying to become more environmentally conscious as more scrutiny is placed on air emissions and fuel efficiency of automobiles.
â??This is something car companies can point to â?? the manufacturing process, at least, is not a boogeyman,â?? he said.
Visnic noted, however, that when it comes to vehicles with high fuel efficiency, Honda products do better than most.
The U.S. Department of Energy lists several Honda automobiles as being among the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the country, including the Honda CR-Z and the Honda Accord.
â??Honda has improved vehicle standards and it has been a corporate emphasis to make the manufacturing process less of an impact on the environment as well,â?? Ernst said.
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