On August 2 Elkem, an overseas company affiliated with Bluestar, released its 2015 Sustainable Development Report. This report reviewed Elkem’s efforts and achievements in energy saving, emission reduction, work safety, sustainable growth, environmental protection, and social responsibility performance in 2015.
As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of metals and other materials, Elkem has been advocating sustainable development and paying great attention to environmental protection, energy saving and reduction of emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide by improving furnace operation, sourcing of raw materials and process design. In 2015 Elkem rebuilt the 3＃Furnace at Elkem Salten, Norway through innovative process for emission reduction, succeeding in reducing emissions of nitrogen oxide by 50%. It has planned a number of furnace renovation projects, which would reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide by 1,000 tons annually. Meanwhile, it is exploring the possibility of replacing coal with charcoal in the production, striving to cut carbon dioxide emissions while ensuring the quality of products.
In order to ensure compliance with the EU water directive and to further reduce the level of dust emissions, the six Norwegian Elkem plants have monitored their surrounding water bodies in real time during 2015, with heavy metals and sediment kept at a lower level. To reduce the exposure of employees to air contaminants in their workplaces, Elkem installed new equipment with better seals, reducing dust emissions from an average of 2.89 mg/m3 in 2013 to only 0.47 mg/m3 in 2015.
Elkem’s safety work is based on a zero-harm-philosophy which says that all injuries can be avoidable. In 2015, a program named “Green Zone” was extensively promoted to require every employee to well manage themselves, find out potential safety hazards around them and eliminate them, thus enhancing the safety management level of the whole plant.
Elkem’s CEO Helge Aasen says, we are working to realize the sustainable growth of profits through innovative technologies and continued improvements, and are dependent on close cooperation with scientific institutions and local governments and communities, so as to make positive contributions to environmental protection and create a better future for sustainable development.
