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General Motors Has Recycled Two Million Water Bottles Used in Flint

General Motors has announced a milestone in recycling, but not one made in one of its facilities.
GM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into Fleece 8 photos
Photo: General Motors
GM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into FleeceGM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into FleeceGM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into FleeceGM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into FleeceGM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into FleeceGM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into FleeceGM Recycles 2 Million Flint Water Bottles into Fleece
Instead, the carmaker announced that it has managed to recycle two million plastic bottles from Flint, Michigan. As some of you know, the town’s residents cannot use the water network because it is contaminated with lead, so the temporary solution employed involved millions of plastic water bottles.

Like other automakers, companies that are familiar with fingers being pointed at you because of pollution or unsustainable behavior, General Motors saw a red flag regarding the use of plastic water bottles.

Since GM is not in that business and cannot supply the residents of Flint with water in glass bottles, the automaker has thought of a different solution.

GM’s idea was to work with a company called Schupan Recycling to collect the bottles used in Flint. Those would get washed, flaked and turned into fleece.

Here’s where the ingenious part comes into play — the fleece obtained by General Motors goes to three products, including one that is a project of Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR as industry specialists call it.

The fleece made from recycled plastic bottles in Flint, Michigan, is used for Chevrolet Equinox V6 engine covers, air filters, and insulation sewn in coats by The Empowerment Plan.

The latter focuses on making coats for the homeless, and this is a sustainable and eco-friendly way of helping people that are going through a tough time in their lives.

According to General Motors, the fleece obtained from Flint’s recycled plastic is used by ten of its factories to make air filters. Evidently, the age when automakers built their consumables has ended long ago, but GM means that its suppliers of air filters now use recycled fleece to form air filters. The resulting products are then delivered to ten of General Motors’ American factories.

General Motors’ involvement in Flint does not end here, as the plastic bottles that were recycled were gathered with at-risk individuals that participated in employment programs.

Furthermore, the seamstresses of The Empowerment Plan, which have received enough insulation from GM to make 6,500 coats for the homeless, are formerly homeless women, so they know the struggle of not having a roof over their heads.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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