The Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA) manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Indiana, became the first auto manufacturing plant to achieve a zero landfill status. None of the plant’s manufacturing waste goes into a landfill, because all of it is recycled and reused.
SIA recycles 99.3 percent of its of excess steel, plastic, wood, paper, glass and other materials. The remaining 0.7 percent is shipped to Indianapolis and burned to help generate steam. In 2006, SIA recycled 11,411 tons of scrap steel, 1,537 tons of cardboard and paper, and 963 tons of wood—equivalent to conserving 31,040 mature trees, 31,572 cubic yards of landfill space, 711,631 gallons of oil, and 10,759,000 gallons of water.
Subaru made a short video about how it achieved zero landfill status at its Lafayette plant.
(welcome reddit! if you like the idea of a zero-waste economy, take a look at our sharing economy series.)