Volvo CE site achieves zero landfill status
Shippensburg plant in Pennsylvania becomes company’s second factory to divert 100% waste from landfill
VOLVO Construction Equipment have achieved ‘zero waste to landfill’ status at their Shippensburg manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania, in the US. The North American site is the second Volvo CE factory worldwide to earn this designation, following the Braås plant, in southern Sweden, which specializes in the design and manufacture of articulated haulers.
The Shippensburg plant covers around 838,000 sq ft and employs more than 800 staff. According to Rich Halter, safety and environmental manager for Volvo CE, the zero-waste disposal initiative at the factory started in 2012 and was a multi-year, multi-step process in partnership with Waste Management, the site’s waste service provider.
‘The journey to zero landfill didn't happen overnight but was instead a precisely designed and informed process that took place over a few years,’ he commented.
‘The Volvo Core Values team worked closely and earnestly with all departments across the Shippensburg site to become a zero waste to landfill facility. This has led to employees making good decisions and doing the right things. Not only are we keeping waste from entering landfills, but we have also significantly reduced our costs for waste handling.’
To put the site’s achievement in perspective; in 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported the US construction and demolition industry created almost 570 million tons of waste.
With Volvo CE Shippensburg now a zero landfill facility, all wastes generated on site are recycled, composted or converted to electricity. This includes: day-to-day manufacturing and assembly operations; office activities; and preventive/reactive maintenance of equipment and facility systems.
Going forward, Volvo CE say they plan to make all their manufacturing sites ‘landfill free’ by 2030.
