Navico Group Becomes First to Reach Zero Waste to Landfill

Navico Group’s Lowell facility is the first company site to reach zero-waste-to-landfill status. The zero-waste process requires a facility to demonstrate a 90% or higher diversion rate, meaning 90% of its waste materials are being recycled, reused, or otherwise eliminated. This accomplishment represents another step in Navico Group’s commitment to conservation and sustainability.  

Navico Group’s Lowell facility manufactures and distributes marine parts and accessory products such as trolling motors, lights, hardware, and pumps. A facility with this role generates many materials that could end up as landfill waste without a proper system in place.  

In 2019, a cross-functional team of salaried and hourly employees was formed to take on the zero-waste process, which took nearly three years. The team began by establishing a baseline and continued to improve each year. Multiple steps were taken to achieve this goal, including creating vendor partnerships, identifying waste streams, collecting data, and implementing targeted procedures for reducing, reusing, and recycling materials.  

The recovery streams include cardboard, steel, aluminum, mixed paper/mixed recycling, plastic, wood, low-/high-recovery wire and electronics/electronic motors. These streams were internally monitored and measured and by 2022, the total percentage of waste-to-landfill was approximately 6% with more than 1.8 million pounds of waste diverted from landfill. One use of the recycled materials was the wood from pallets, which was either repaired or used to make new pallets by Michigan Pallet, decreasing its overall wood usage.  

For more information about Navico Group and its sustainability mission, visit www.navico.com/.