Jaguar Land Rover maximises its ability to limit waste

Week three of Tata Sustainability Month sees it focus on resource efficiency and minimising waste, but did you know that here at Jaguar Land Rover colleagues are already playing a major role in being more efficient and resourceful.

Cutting waste the Jaguar Land Rover way

Currently no waste goes directly to landfill, and the business is tackling the issue of single-use plastics, with 14 million items being replaced or removed across on-site catering, brand experience, global logistics and manufacturing.

On the manufacturing frontline, single-use plastic packaging is being replaced for reusable alternatives, as a team at Solihull has removed 1.1 million m2 of plastic, equivalent to 154 football pitches, from just the final assembly areas of the Land Rover plant. 

Their success has seen other employees become inspired to do the same with similar schemes rolled out across sites in Castle Bromwich, Halewood, Wolverhampton and Graz, Austria.

The story doesn’t end there though. Jaguar Land Rover is also closing the loop on its precious materials, recycling and reusing its waste as part of its circular economy, and the  I-PACE is at the heart of it.

Project Reality will see aluminium recovered from existing Jaguars and Land Rovers, and reformed into new high-grade material ready to be used in the next generation vehicles. Even the battery packs are being readied to see what second life potential they have, with energy storage trials planned for later this year.

Making the most of water we use

Jaguar Land Rover’s Responsible Business team is focused on how much water we use and if we can use it more efficiently.

Each car built in the UK today uses 27 percent less water than those built in 2007, which equates to 2.79m3 per car. But the team is focused on bringing that figure down to 2m3, with our new overseas manufacturing sites already aiming for this target.

To use rainwater more effectively, the team has been using treatment facilities and harvesting methods to make the most of this valuable resource.

Colleagues who take it to heart 

While Jaguar Land Rover as a business is making great strides at being more efficient and resourceful, across our global sites colleagues are looking to make a difference where they can. 

In Pune, colleagues have found a novel second use for wooden pallets, which have been upcycled to create more than 700 desks benefitting more than 1,000 students in the process. 

While in Brazil after planting over 1,200 trees when the manufacturing plant was built, it is now looking to plant a similar number again to support re-cultivation of the native forest.

At Halewood, the paint shop team has been maximising the life of waffle polishing pads, which would be thrown away after one use to extend its life by three times.

A number of colleagues at Castle Bromwich have been busy reducing waste and money. A trio of colleagues in Body-In-White has focused on reducing the amount of glue waste, while the Plant Launch and Manufacturing Product Integration (MPI) team has been recycling parts from other vehicles to help the Verification Build team.

The plant’s paint shop team has also saved a number of unwanted plastic parts heading for recycling, by coming up with a method to repair them so they can  be fitted to new cars down the production line.

The Engine Manufacturing Centre has also been getting in on the act, with a four-man team from the Petrol Customer Focus Centre developing tooling to make its tension bolt resetting tool reusable, while other colleagues have limited the number of gloves and the plastic bagging used to protect semi-assembled engine blocks destined for India and Brazil, from being wasted.

Gallery