Imagine this: A 471,000 sq. ft. facility sitting on 65 acres that sends none of its daily waste to landfill, earned its wildlife habitat certification and generates 9 percent of its electric power from the sun.

That’s GM’s Baltimore Operations facility, located about 12 miles from downtown Baltimore. And about 50 people in town for the Wildlife Habitat Council’s Annual Symposium experienced the site in action. They toured the facility and surrounding property, seeing firsthand how it is reducing its environmental impact.

The site is a two-time recipient of the Maryland Green Registry Leadership Award and first-place winner of Baltimore Business Journal’s Green Business Awards.

Led by the site’s environmental engineer, Mike Martinko, participants learned about various recycling operations before stepping outside to see a pollinator garden, an acre of habitat surrounding a retention pond, blue bird nesting boxes, and a large hill created from a building expansion project now planted with native wildflower seeds. In addition, a variety of trees stand tall on the property, including swamp white oak, elderberry, button bush, white pine, and redbuds.

GM’s habitat efforts benefit the environment while increasing community awareness around wildlife preservation. Its GM GREEN program enables it to further spread the environmental message. Employees become volunteers and work alongside Earth Force and BioEYES, a local environmental partner, to help area students protect rivers, lakes and streams while helping them understand how everyday actions impact local watersheds.

GM manages nearly 2,500 acres dedicated to wildlife habitats across its global operations, working with various local schools, non-governmental organizations, nonprofits and environmental preservation groups to enhance these areas and increase community awareness about preservation. 

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