Annual Report 2014

Etex Annual Report 2014
Environmental report
Protecting our planet
Production waste
Avoiding waste in production is a crucial
part of our effort to reduce the use of
natural resources. Wherever possible,
we recycle waste as quickly as possible,
preferably within our own processes and
otherwise externally.
Etex sets itself an ambitious goal: by 2020,
we intend to eliminate production waste
completely. As a milestone towards that
goal, we aim to reduce the amount of
production waste we discard by 50 per
cent by 2015, compared to 2009.
Several plants — such as our fibre cement
factories in Europe — have already achieved
the lion’s share of this goal, which makes us
confident we will reach our 2020 target.
In 2014, the production waste dumped
per tonne of raw materials for all our
companies stabilised at the 2013 level, i.e.
at 0.76 per cent.
Sustainable quarries in Cyprus
In the Republic of North Cyprus, our
company Asmad Alci proved to be
the bee’s knees for sustainable quarry
management. By planting trees and helping
a local honey producer to place beehives
on our quarry lands, we support the local
traditional economy.
We plan to hand out numerous honey jars
to local organisations, who can sell them
to raise money for their charity causes.
These jars will carry the company’s motto
as a label: We erase our footprints in the
quarries. We plant trees and we keep bees.
Production waste dumped per tonne of raw materials
1.29%
2010
1.20%
2011
0.79%
2012
+Siniat
0.76% 0.76%
GypsumToGypsum keeps housing in the loop
Siniat and 15 industry partners kicked off Gypsum-to-Gypsum (GtoG) in 2013. This
EU-funded project sets out to increase plasterboard and gypsum recycling after a
building is deconstructed.
The aim is to create a sustainable closed-loop recycling process. To date, we have
focused on proving that gypsum waste can be easily separated, processed and
incorporated back into the plasterboard manufacturing process. The next step? To
design a deconstruction process to achieve this. And to prove that reusing gypsum
is viable, we are carrying out tests at five manufacturing sites across the UK, France,
Belgium and Germany.
70% recycled building waste by 2020
Siniat is committed to this goal, by minimising the amount of plasterboard and
gypsum that is not re-used after a building, renovation or demolition project. That
is why three of its sites — Auneuil, Carpentras and Saint-Loubès — installed the
necessary equipment to recycle plaster and gypsum. A fourth location in the East of
France, operated by an independent partner, ensures a good coverage of the entire
country.
2013
2014
The road ahead
0%
production waste
by 2020
In 2014, Etex spent 19,019,753 euro on environmental initiatives. A
sum that is significantly higher than the years before. The fact that
reporting happens in a more complete and detailed way accounts
for this figure. In order to improve our environmental approach,
we must incur costs and make further investments. Given the size
and the complexity of the group, our global CSR strategy is mainly
driven by local initiatives and innovations. In the coming years, our
challenge is to further streamline these efforts within a clear and
ambitious framework.
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