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Environmental Management System
The responsible management of natural resources and commitment to sustainable development run through the whole of Alumar’s value chain.
The Consortium uses advanced industrial production technologies and the strictest environmental management standards in its operations, so much so that Alumar’s Environmental Management System gained ISO 14001 certification and was recognized at the “World Summit for Sustainable Development and The United Nations Organization for Industrial Development”, by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD – UNIDO) in a conference held in Johannesburg, in South Africa in 2002.
Furthermore, the Consortium is a benchmark for other units within Alcoa and BHP Billiton worldwide. Among the environmental practices adopted by Alumar and highlighted in the various corporate audits carried out both by Alcoa as well as by BHP Billiton, we can mention the monthly critical analysis of the operating plan and the quarterly internal audits of the environmental management system, the ISO 14001 management system, the industrial waste management program (which includes separation, selective collection and recycling), reduction of the emission of fluorides (considered one of the lowest in Alcoa’s global system), the recycling of spent pot linings (a practice that is allowing for the elimination of this important environmental liability resulting from the manufacture of aluminum), the environmental park, rehabilitation of the bauxite residue disposal areas, the community vegetable gardens project and the landscaping of the plant.
Alumar was one of the first companies in Brazil to carry out a EIA/RIMA (Environmental Impact Study and Environmental Impact Report) prepared in 1983, before even Brazilian legislation made this procedure obligatory, with CONAMA Resolution 001, dated January 23, 1986.
Alumar’s strict environmental management standards are fundamental when it comes to maintaining the high quality levels that have marked the Company’s trajectory as one of the largest and best producers of aluminum and alumina in the world.
Environmental strategy, 2000-2020
Alumar has an environmental strategy that establishes ambitious targets for promoting a totally sustainable future in the plant’s production activities. The strategy, with its focus on the environment, profitability and social responsibility, and planned to be developed over a 20 year period (2000-2020), seeks to eliminate all waste that is currently sent to landfill sites, to develop products that are designed to be environmentally friendly, to integrate environment and production, to create an incident-free working environment, to have the environment as one of the Company’s key values and to achieve a reputation for excellence that is aligned with the practices and results obtained. Below are some of the important things the Company achieved in 2007:
- A reduction of 50% in the consumption of drinking water at the plant (base 2001).
- The recycling of 13,500 tons of mineral coal ash in cement plants, which represents more than 63% of the amount generated, an unparalleled result in the Company’s history.
- A reduction in the anodic effect rate (a phenomenon that occurs during the production process of metal aluminum) from 0.21 EA/per pot day in 2006, to 0.17 EA/per pot day. A reduction in the duration of the anodic effect from 0.19 min EA/per pot day in 2006 to 0.12 min EA/per pot day in 2007.
- In 2007, the number of visitors to Alumar’s Environmental Park exceeded 105,000 people.
- Consolidation of the use of biodiesel (2%) in the anode furnaces and in industrial vehicles very much sooner than the legal obligation to do so, thereby avoiding launching 1,300 tons of CO2 equivalent per year into the atmosphere.
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