Green manufacturing has been a trend in recent years, but Subaru has spent the last decade committed to the environmental sustainability by operating zero-landfill manufacturing plants.
In the past, waste from manufacturing and production was simply considered a cost of doing business. Today a shift toward sustainability is driving businesses to find ways to reduce their footprint. Subaru has lead the way as North America’s first auto assembly plant to back the push toward zero-landfill. Reaching zero-landfill status means 100% of manufacturing waste is recycled or turned into electricity.
Subaru’s plants are very conscientious about managing waste. Bar-coded containers are weighed at each assembly station, which allows tracking of waste from individual stations. Packaging items used for shipping engines is returned to Subaru’s plant in Japan for reuse. The company doesn’t attribute one specific approach to their success, but rather says that it is a combination of one thousand great ideas. Subaru’s philosophy encourages the empowerment of employees to contribute solutions. Many of those ideas came from employees working directly in the plant. As a result, waste from Subaru manufacturing plants has been kept out of landfills since 2004.
With a solid commitment to environmental sustainability, Subaru continues to be a leader by sharing their success and encouraging other organizations to join the movement toward zero-landfill by offering business to business zero-landfill training at no cost.
