A responsible industry

The chlorine industry is constantly learning more about its products. Some chlorine-containing products have been linked with environmental challenges, and the industry is strongly committed to addressing these issues.

Such commitment will help ensure a sustainable future for chlorine-based products which do not put the environment at risk. Through Euro Chlor, chlorine manufacturers and users are pressing for the best practices in environmental protection, safety and health to be implemented throughout industry.

Risk assessment and risk management are based on the use of sound scientific principles to assess the risks posed by individual products. Depending on these risks, industry implements (within the framework of Responsible Care) risk management measures throughout the chain from production to use.

Unified strategic approach

All of the Western European chlorine manufacturing members of Euro Chlor agreed in 2001 on an industry-wide strategy that focused on six voluntary commitments.

These were first developed to ensure a united industry approach and commitment to address key sustainability concerns:

•   Include environmental, social and economic factors in all strategic business decisions
•   Optimize energy efficiency in chlorine production
•   Reduce water usage through recycling
•   Continuously reduce polluting emissions to water, air and land
•   Use more hydrogen generated by the industry as a raw material or fuel
•   Give high priority to safe transportation of chlorine.

In parallel, data was collected for 2001-02 and with this information, 14 performance indicators and improvement goals were agreed among producers and announced by Euro Chlor in January 2003. Then the following year, a 15th indicator was added that required members to gain EMAS and/or ISO 14001 Environmental Accreditation for their plants.

These indicators come under the following main areas: economic aspects of production, environmental protection, safety and social progress and for some of them targets were fixed for 2010. Each year, producers are required to report their progress to Euro Chlor, which combines feedback to report to the association's Management Committee prior to annual publication of the industry's performance.
In this section, we report on performance indicators and progress in 2009. Whilst the programme continues to be a powerful force for change, not all the indicators show the same degree of progress.

Last update: 09/2011