In this contest, everybody’s a winner.
Going green has always been the initiative of GM. This year, however, the company takes it green initiative a bit further with the “Project Greenway” design competition. The contestants? No other than the company’s artists from its Design Center.
The things repurposed in the competition are waste materials from models that the Design Center used. Unwanted and discarded items were collected at General Motors’ Global Technical Center campus, where the Design Center is located. These include leather, wood, high-density foam, metal, frames, plumbing parts, mesh, caster, chain, supplier samples and more, which were given to the contestants in a first-come, first-grab basis.
Speaking of Design:
“Viewing the ‘Project Greenway’ art in the Design Center Gallery was inspirational — it was impressive to see how unwanted items were turned into unique pieces of art,” said Dane Parker, vice president, Sustainable Workplaces. “These types of projects highlight the amazing creativity, capability, and commitment of our GM team members.”
The finished products include the Bird sculpture, made by Anthony Saporiti, Creative Sculptor; AutoBot & Pups by Dick Cruger, Creative Sculptor/Retiree; Guitar by Matt Burke, Senior Creative Designer; Purse by Jennifer Green, Internal Communications and Community Outreach Lead; and Bird with Beak painting by Jennifer Kraska, Design Manager. You can see these works of art in the gallery below.
Aside from creating art pieces from the trash, clay recycling is also part of GM’s green initiative. Within the company’s Global Design Center, 100 clay vehicle models are built each year. With that, the company reuses the clay from these models by stripping them and carefully cleaning the clay removed in the process. It’s flawless process, and six team members can completely strip one midsize vehicle model of salvageable clay in an hour. In 2017 alone, the team recycled more than 13 thousand pounds of clay.
All these are part of GM’s goal to become a zero-waste manufacturer.
Source: GM Green