Although producing more vehicles, Subaru factories use 28 per cent less energy than in 1990. In 2008 the vehicles meet fuel economy standards in Japan, the United States and Europe, which do not have to be met until 2010.

Producing green cars occurs at all steps in the process, from development and design, through manufacturing, servicing and ultimately disposal at the end of the vehicle life.

In January 2005, the law on Recycling End-of-Life Vehicles came into force in Japan. FHI seeks to not only comply with this law but also develop products that are easier to recycle.

By 2015 Subaru expects to be able to recycle 95 per cent of every vehicle it manufactures. The use of mercury, cadmium, hexavalent and chromium has been deleted from the manufacturing process and lead is only used at just 10 per cent of the levels of a decade ago.
 
Vehicles are now designed and built for easier dismantling and separation of metal, glass, plastic and other materials. Subaru, together with most other major manufacturers in Japan, has established a partnership company to recycle fluorocarbons, airbags and other difficult to deal with vehicle parts.

95 per cent of Subaru outside suppliers also meet the same environment management standards as Fuji Heavy Industries own facilities. The types of plastics used are now identified on the outside, avoiding  the need to dismantle  for identification.

Instead of being dumped, sludge from giant paint troughs  is now used to make vibration absorption panels for vehicle floors. 

Over the last  10 years wastage in the painting process has been reduced by 57 per cent.

The motor industry is also using waste from other industries. Nylon fishing nets are being turned into engine covers, while scrapped bumpers are remanufactured into cabin trim, battery pans, engine splash trays, tailgate trims and luggage shelves in wagons and hatches.

Processes have been developed to remove plastic  from laminated windscreens, so the glass can be re-cycled. Laminated screens previously had to be dumped.

Longer service intervals also mean less consumable products are being used in the life of a vehicle.

The Subaru Clean Plant
Consider this: When you carry out your trash at home on the next collection day, you'll be sending more trash to landfills than the entire Subaru manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Indiana (SIA). T

he Subaru plant was the first auto assembly plant to achieve zero landfill status - nothing from its manufacturing efforts goes into a landfill. It's all reused and recycled.


FHI has achieved zero emission levels at its automobile plants in Gunma, Japan.

The Gunma Manufacturing Division eliminated industrial waste, previously used for landfill, in 2001.

The division comprises four major automobile production plants: the Main, Yajima, Ohta North and Oizumi Plants.
Zero emission status was achieved at Gunma a year earlier than expected.

As part of its company-wide zero emission goal for production processes, FHI announced in January 1999 that it planned to reduce, then eliminate, industrial waste in the Gunma Division by March 2002 and also at the Utsunomiya Manufacturing Division, which makes aircraft, rail cars and ecology-related products.

In fiscal year 1999, 1,003 tons of landfill was produced at Gunma, reducing to 43 tons in fiscal year 2000 – a 99.3 per cent drop.

By the end of fiscal year 2000, with less than one ton of landfill waste at Gunma, FHI declared the four plants to be within tolerance levels for zero emission.

FHI had earlier identified 61 per cent of waste at the Gunma Division as being incinerated. With the goal of removing incinerators, the Division turned waste originally destined for burning, into recyclable resources.

Dewatered sludge, which took up 43 per cent of the waste ashes, is now recycled as cement materials. Refuse paint, which was 26 per cent of waste, is turned into anti-vibration insulator materials, cement compounds and blast-furnace reducing agents.

Other flammable waste and non-vinyl chloride resins are categorized into 25 recyclable uses.

Incinerator use at Gunma was discontinued on December 12, 2000.Non-incinerated waste from Gunma is also extensively recycled. For example, soft vinyl chloride plastics are automatically sorted, using recently installed sorters on the shop floors, then recycled.

FHI also achieved zero emission at its Saitama Manufacturing Division by the end of March 2002. It produces general purpose engines and generators.

In North America, Subaru was the first automotive manufacturer to receive the stringent ISO 14001 environmental management standard at its SIA manufacturing facility in Lafayette, Indiana, and the first to achieve zero landfill status.

Since then, Subaru has achieved ISO 14001 accreditation across its entire North American operation, including administration offices, distribution warehouses and service technical training centres.

source Subaru global website, Subaru NZ website, Subaru USA website and Subaru Canada website