Conteúdo:

Votorantim aims to be recognized by society as a company which generates social and environmental value and this commitment is stated in its Vision and Sustainability Principles. The Business Units are pledged to undertake continuous initiatives to preserve natural resources and reduce the impacts of their activities on the environment. Votorantim Industrial, for example, works actively with the Business Units in projects which create carbon credits, thereby helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Check out some of the Group actions.

CITROVITA
Waste becomes a fertilizer
Citrovita has developed a project which will transform iodine, a solid waste from the treatment of industrial waste, into fertilizer. The initiative brings advantage, such as the integrated production concept as it closes the field-industry cycle and cuts costs at two points: firstly, by eliminating the costs of the final disposal of the material, and secondly by using it as a fertilizer in the orange groves. The next stage is to register the product with the Ministry of Agriculture.

VOTORANTIM CEMENT
World example
VC is part of the Cement Sustainability Initiative, an organization which brings together the largest cement companies in the world to discuss sustainability in the sector. VC has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions, amongst other initiatives. The goal was to reduce the emissions by 10% by 2012 compared with the volume of carbon issued in 1990. However, VC had already reduced the net emission by 16.6% by 2007 and is now the cement company which emits the least carbon in the world.

VOTORANTIM CHEMICALS
Recycling
The Nitro Química plant in Santa Catarina state (Brazil), has undertaken two actions which are worth noting: it is replacing diesel oil and grease by biodegradable degreasing material and reusing a solid waste as a raw material in the production of red ceramic.

VOTORANTIM METALS
Environmental management at CBA
One of VM's main projects in the environmental area is its management plan for the Morro Grande Nature Reserve. CBA worked with the Environmental Monitoring Center of Serra do Itapety to map 363 species of plants, 124 of birds, 20 of mammals and 1,319 of insects, in an area covering 425 hectares of the Atlantic Rainforest biome belonging to the company, between the towns of Poços de Caldas and Caldas (Minas Gerais state, Brazil). VM is also operating on a number of others fronts including capturing and treating waste and recycling industrial waste.

VOTORANTIM ENERGY
Preservation
Votorantim's Energy environmental initiatives include two outstanding initiatives. Two million seedlings will be planted by the end of the year in its 31 plants. These include 2,000 threatened species in the Barra Grande region located between the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. VE also looks after 28,000 hectares of native Atlantic Rainforest along the banks of the river Juquiá in São Paulo state.

VOTORANTIM STEEL
Environmental Awareness
The Votorantim Steel plant at Resende (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has started to create a green belt around its premises and is also working to recover riverbank woodlands. By 2010, around 250,000 seedlings of Atlantic rainforest species will be planted in an area covering 140 hectares (or 1,400,000 square meters). The aim is to capture carbon from the atmosphere, reduce the risks of erosion to the riverbanks and recover biodiversity.

To reinforce the awareness of the role of each employee in relation to environmental issues, VS organized an Environment Week in the offices and plants in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia at the beginning of June. The event was held to mark World Environment Day (June 5).  The initiatives involved around 5,000 employees and their families.

VCP
Carbon tracked
VCP's production plant of Jacareí (São Paulo State, Brazil) was certified in April by Carbon Footprint which measures the issues of gas in the various production process stages. It is the first pulp plant in Brazil to have this certification for the whole productive chain, from the planting of the wood to the delivery of the pulp at the ports (Europe, Asia and US).

Data: 6/8/2009

Chamada Noticia:

The Votorantim Group invested R$ 208 million in nature preservation in 2008.

Noticia Destaque: No

Titulo da Seção: News

Tags de Negócio: Meio Ambiente;Votorantim Agroindústria;Votorantim Cimentos;Votorantim Energia;Votorantim Metais;Votorantim Siderurgia