Waste prevention and recycling

When it comes to waste management, DaimlerChrysler believes that prevention and recycling is better than disposal. Accordingly, the reconditioning and reuse of raw, process and operating materials has been standard practice at DaimlerChrysler for many years now. Moreover, innovative technologies and eco-friendly production planning processes are used in order to avoid the creation of waste from the outset.

Sometimes very simple things help save money and resources. For example, the DaimlerChrysler production plant in São Bernardo, Brazil, had been disposing of supplier transport pallets of various sizes together with other refuse. Now, with the help of two external companies, these pallets are being taken apart and put together again as standard-sized units that can be reused at the plant. In the first four months after the change, the plant was able to save approximately € 37,000 as well as the new wood required for 1,750 pallets.

Total waste resulting from production-related activities in 2006 amounted to 2.2 million tons (2005: 2.4 million tons). Of this total, 76 percent consisted of almost completely recycled scrap metal, 18 percent was industrial waste (66 percent of which was recycled) and 6 percent was toxic waste (74 percent of which was recycled). The decrease in total waste was due to a significant drop in recycled industrial waste. A significant role was played here by the closure of the foundry in Indianapolis, which eliminated approximately 150,000 tons of used sand.