So, this is kind of cool. GM is recycling used oil booms from the Gulf oil spill into new Chevy Volts.
Plastic boom material that soaked up oil in the Gulf of Mexico has found a new use as components in General Motors Co.’s high-tech Chevrolet Volt car.Recycling the booms means producing more than 100,000 pounds of plastic resin for vehicle components, Mike Robinson, GM vice president of environment, energy and safety policy, said Monday. The booms are floating tube-like barriers that contained the leaking oil.
Reusing the booms means, he said, “about 100,000 pounds of waste was avoided through our recycling project.”
“Watching the spill in the Gulf unfold, we wanted to do something to help if we could,” Robinson said. “We take great pride in what we’re able to accomplish through our recycling and landfill-free initiatives.”
The parts, which deflect air around the vehicle’s radiator, are composed of 25 percent boom material and 25 percent recycled tires from GM’s Milford Proving Ground.
I have been very critical of GM over the years. They made some piss-poor decisions in terms of the types of vehicles they were developing and they just seemed to take their workers and the state of Michigan in general for granted. But I really do think they are starting to turn over a new leaf. They aren’t as cocky and arrogant as they once were and they are starting to take steps to clean up their image.
I’m the first to concede that these are PR moves. But PR moves like this are the type of thing that move public opinion and make people realize what’s possible. And that, as someone famous once said, is a Good Thing.
I’m just sayin’…
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