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Respect for the environment
Alcoa's unit in Itapissuma, which has a permanent process for protecting and respecting the environment, distinguishes itself because of the activities it has carried out and the projects it has been involved with over the last few years and that have led to the plant and nature coexisting in perfect harmony.
The Company's commitment to and respect for the environment is sealed by the equal commitment of every one of its employees. Alcoa has set itself bold targets to achieve the objectives of its Ten Million Trees Program, which is part of an ambitious environmental project that aims to make Alcoa fully sustainable by 2020.
Over the last few years various investments in ecoefficient projects have hit the headlines in the unit. Among them is the substitution of chromium by titanium, which is used in the process for painting aluminum sheets. With this work the plant has managed to do away with the handling and spillage of chemical products, thus eliminating both health and environmental risks.
Other highlights in the substitution of metals were the elimination of more than 2,300 kg of chromium a year and a longer working life for equipment and installations, the deactivation of the effluent treatment station, the monitoring of both emissions and employees, the elimination of solid waste and equipment maintenance.
With its Pure Air System project, which provides for the capture of vapors from lamination oil, condensation and washing processes and a distiller that treats oil for reuse, the Company reduced the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) into the atmosphere by more than 90%, improved surface quality on sheets and reduced oil usage (from 110,000 to 33,000 liters) and the emission of hydrocarbonates into the air to a maximum of 50 mg/m3.
Alcoa's Laminates Division in Itapissuma and Klabin, Tetra Pak and TSL Ambiental built and inaugurated in 2005 a long-life packaging recycling unit in Piracicaba, up-state São Paulo. It took seven years of research and development before the unit, the first of its kind in the world, was set up.
The plant makes hitherto unknown use of plasma technology, which allows for the total separation of the aluminum from the plastic that go to make up the packaging. The process revolutionizes the current long-life packaging recycling model, which previously separated the paper but left the plastic and the aluminum attached to each other. The plasma process allows the three components of the packaging to be returned to the production chain as raw materials.
This partnership project synthesizes the concept of sustainability because it uses technological innovation, environmental performance and social and economic development.
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