Corporate responsibility report 2004 - Tata Steel

Environment
Table 2 Releases to water
– Corus Group (tonnes/year)
Substance 1999 2004
Suspended solids 3,500 1,750
Arsenic 1.27 0.31
Cadmium 0.14 0.07
Chromium 2.01 1.36
Copper 1.18 1.27*
Lead 4.64 2.65
Mercury 0.06 0.04
Nickel 1.79 1.87*
Zinc 8.18 21.76*
*The apparent increase compared to 1999
for some heavy metals is due to improved
monitoring and extended reporting.
Figure 9 Emissions to water relative to 1999
(per tonne of steel)
100
80
60
40
20
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Suspended solids
Arsenic
Lead
Table 3 Resource use
(million tonnes/year)
1999 2004
Steel production 21 19.3
Aluminium production 0.5 0.5
Iron ore 29 26
Coal 12 10.6
Coke 0.5 1.3
Fuel oil 0.6 0.3
Limestone/lime products 4.4 3.8
Alumina 0.5 0.4
Data is approximate and is shown only to
illustrate typical usage.
Water
Relatively large amounts of water are
used during the manufacture of steel,
although this is difficult to quantify. We
estimate that our iron and steelmaking
sites use between 5 and 10 m 3 of
water per tonne of steel produced.
Water conservation is a key objective
at many of our sites and significant
improvements have been made over
recent years. For example, Apollo
Metals in the USA, which is part of
Corus Special Strip, has developed
a novel vertical rinsing system that has
reduced water consumption by more
than 50%, whilst improving both
energy efficiency and product quality.
Most of our water is used in indirect
non-contact cooling circuits or is
treated before discharge back into
natural watercourses.
We aim to minimise the impact from
our effluents wherever this is cost
effective and practicable. For
example, at Corus Strip Products,
IJmuiden, we installed a new
treatment unit at our pellet plant
during 2004 to remove arsenic.
In addition, releases of chromium,
copper, nickel, mercury and
cadmium have also been reduced.
Table 2 compares releases to water in
2004 with those in 1999. Some of our
key emissions are also presented in
normalised form in Figure 9.
Resource effectiveness
We are committed to improving
the efficiency with which we use the
earth’s resources. This is a fundamental
aspect of sustainable development
and is one of our key policy principles.
Our primary raw materials for steel
production are iron ore, coal, coke,
limestone and oil. Alumina is the
primary raw material in the aluminium
smelting process. Table 3 shows
our consumption of these materials
during 2004. We have developed
systems to maximise the internal
recycling of materials containing
iron and/or carbon that are
unavoidably produced in our
steelmaking processes (for example,
the briquetting of dust collected in
our emissions control equipment).
We have not set a specific target
to reduce our consumption of raw
materials, but we have set a target
to reduce our waste to landfill. This
target will largely be achieved through
increased recycling rates within our
processes, which will also result in
reduced raw materials consumption.
We are continually developing techniques
for reducing water use.
Corporate responsibility report 23