GM turning BP oil spill booms into Volt parts

volt_auction_car.top.jpgPlastic recycled from oil booms used in the Gulf of Mexico will be made into parts for the Chevrolet Volt. By Peter Valdes-Dapena, senior writer


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is collecting about 100 miles of plastic booms once used to contain the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and will use recycled plastic from those booms to make Chevrolet Volt electric cars, the automaker announced Monday.

Roughly 100,000 pounds of plastic will be used to make shrouds that will cover radiator fans in the Volt's engine compartment. Besides the plastic from the oil boom plastic, the materials used in the shrouds include recycled tires once used at GM's Milford Proving Grounds, as well as various post-consumer plastics.

The oil boom plastic will be used in the 2011 model year Volts which are now on sale. Some material will probably be left over to use in other cars, as well, a GM spokeswoman said.

"Creative recycling is one extension of GM's overall strategy to reduce its environmental impact," Mike Robinson, GM vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety policy, said in an announcement.

With the help of outside companies, the automaker began collecting and processing the oil booms in June, and the work is expected to go on for at least another two months.

"If sent to a landfill, these materials would have taken hundreds of years to begin to break down and we didn't want to see the spill further impact the environment," said John Bradburn, manager of GM's waste-reduction efforts, in the GM announcement. "We knew we could identify a beneficial reuse of this material given our experience."

GM has been working to improve the environmental image of its Chevrolet brand with a campaign centered around the Volt. A recently launched Chevrolet-branded carbon reduction campaign includes a Web site at Chevycarbonreduction.com. The automaker also recently announced that more than half its factories are now "landfill free." To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Find Your Next Car
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.