The Sustainability Programme 2001-2010
The chlorine industry has been constantly learning more
about its products. Some chlorine-containing products have been
linked with environmental challenges, and the industry has always
been strongly committed to addressing these issues.
It is clear that such commitment would help ensure a
sustainable future for chlorine-based products which do not put the
environment at risk. Through Euro Chlor, chlorine manufacturers and
users have been and still are pressing for the best practices in
environmental protection, safety and health to be implemented
throughout industry.
The Euro Chlor risk assessment and risk management have
always been 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.
Read more about Responsible Care® on
cefic.org, a global chemical industry commitment for
sustainability.
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.
???Read more on the 2001-2011 Sustainabilty Programme in
the 2010 Industry Review
document (pdf)???
Internal links
Last update: 09/2011
