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Ford European Manufacturing Now Sends No Waste to Landfills

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Ford zero-to-landfill EU

Ford’s 2016 Sustainability Report highlights an impressive continent-wide achievement on the part of Ford of Europe. In just five years’ time, Ford has made all of its manufacturing plants in Europe zero-to-landfill, cutting the 6,000 tons of waste sent to landfills in 2011 to a total goose egg.

Ford produces 1.2 million vehicles in Europe every year, and the resultant waste from those operations was at one time the equivalent of a town of approximately 12,500 people. Today, thanks to innovative solutions in reuse and recycling, Ford generates no waste that goes to landfills.

Methods used to obtain zero waste-to-landfill status include reusing packaging, recycling scrap metal to make new parts, and using paint sludge and waste water sludge to generate energy.

The most recent plants in Europe to achieve the zero-to-landfill classification are those in Valencia in Craiova. These two facilities join Ford’s zero-to-landfill plants in Bordeaux, France; Bridgend and Dagenham, UK; and Cologne and Saarlouis, Germany. In total, 12 plants in Europe reuse, recycle, and/or repurpose all waste produced.

“We have introduced a range of measures that have not only significantly reduced our reliance on landfill for our manufacturing plants, but removed it entirely. This achievement is a fantastic base to push on from and further improve in areas such as water and electricity usage reductions as Ford of Europe drives towards the company’s global sustainability ambitions,” said Andreas Reiss, manager, Environmental Quality Office Europe, Ford of Europe.

Ford released its 17th annual Sustainability Report in mid-June.