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GM recycles 2 mn Flint water bottles into fleece

By Swati Deshpande,

Added 29 August 2016

The plastic is washed, flaked and turned into fleece to make three products: Chevrolet Equinox V-6 engine covers, insulation for The Empowerment Plan coats for the homeless, and air filters for 10 GM plants.

General Motors plans to recycle million water bottles into three products to be used in car components. The plastic is washed, flaked and turned into fleece to make three products: Chevrolet Equinox V-6 engine covers, insulation for The Empowerment Plan coats for the homeless, and air filters for 10 GM plants. 

This initiative is a part of Do Your Part program that engages a supply web of 11 organisations and reduces landfill waste. The resulting social impact contributes to the initiative's progress and expansion. The company partnered with Schupan Recycling to collect the bottles.

GM supplier Filtration Services Group involved the N.E.W. Life Center in Flint to make air filter panels from the 9,000 sq ft of fleece created since Do Your Part launched in April. After at-risk individuals participate in programs dedicated to employment preparation or life change, this nonprofit training center employs them to further develop their skills.

GM is donating enough insulation for The Empowerment Plan's seamstresses — formerly homeless women — to make 6,500 coats that transform into sleeping bags that are given to those in need at no cost. The nonprofit trains their employees in lean manufacturing and teaches them soft and hard skills to propel them to bigger and better opportunities.

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