Car scrap used to warm US homeless

United States – The sound-absorbing material used in the doors of General Motors’ cars is being utilised to make coats for the homeless. The US vehicle manufacturer has donated 2000 yards of the Sonozorb material to the non-profit group Empowerment Plan, which will weave it into warm coats that double as sleeping bags for the homeless. The donation is enough to insulate around 400 coats for distribution nationwide.

It’s not the first time that GM has made such a donation. Last year, left-over Sonozorb from the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Verano was stitched into all-in-one coats and sleeping bags for homeless people in the US states of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, New York and Oregon.

The insulation is the biggest expense of the self-heating, waterproof design of Veronika Scott, founder of Empowerment Plan. Her team makes some 150 coats a month. ‘GM’s continued support directly impacts our ability to produce at the rate we’ve been going,’ Scott says in a post on GM’s website.

According to GM officials, the car producer is getting more creative with its commitment to waste reduction. The company has 106 landfill-free facilities globally that take all waste from daily operations and recycle, reuse or convert it to energy.

For more information, visit: www.gmbeyondnow.com