General Motors Powertrain announced that its Tonawanda (N.Y.) Engine plant had successfully eliminated its reliance on landfills. This is the second GM plant to make such an announcement; the first was its famous Flint (Mich.) Engine Plant in March 2005.

Efforts to accomplish this feat started in 2003 as the plant's 2,200 workers pulled together to reduce, recycle, replace and reuse materials that had led to wastes being generated by the facility. As a result of their efforts, 23,233 tons of scrap metals, wood packaging, batteries, light bulbs and other materials from the plant's manufacturing processes were recycled in 2005. That is the equivalent of filling 605 53-foot semi-trailers with trash. Also, 1,060 tons of material was converted to energy, producing enough to power about 28,000 American households.