Martine Martin :
« The environmental policy that was updated with the arrival of new management in 2007 is still in force and enables us to apply environmental management practices at every level of the organisation.
Concerning our environmental results in 2009, the downturn in activity at the site owing to the global economic crisis resulted in a decrease in our environmental impact, notably a reduction in the consumption of water and COD.
Performance of the EMS is measured by our environment indicators, which are now discussed every month by the management committee meetings. At the same time, 2009 was a year of audits and DREAL (France’s national environment agency) inspections confirmed our environmental management performance. »
The overall management of waste is outsourced to a contractor. The contract was renewed in June 2007 and clearly lays down the priorities for progress of the three-year plan. More efficient systems have been installed this year :
- 40 small, double-bottomed skips for recovering shaving drips and recycling these liquids at source,
- 2 dryer-crusher systems for shavings to improve the quality of shavings and also to recover and recycle shaving drips (at-source recycling of neat oil, treatment of metal cutting fluids on evaporators).
Monthly meetings are held between the waste contractor and the environment network in order to find quick solutions to any anomalies and to adapt organisations to changes in the workshops. Waste sorting quality remained at 98%, in line with objectives.
Coordinating energy savings, for which progress meetings are held every two months, enable us to continue making progress, while electricity consumed outside production hours continues to decrease.
Systematic measurements were taken during all earthworks and building works as part of the campaign to prevent soil pollution. Soil samples are taken before and, sometimes, during the works in order to check the quality of the subsoil. Special measures are taken for new facilities in order to prevent any risk of pollution of the subsoil.
Following the project to characterise the quality of the soil at the machining shavings storage area, a call for tender was launched with 5 companies. Work on cleaning up pollution will start in mid-2010.
A technical-economic study was also launched to find a lasting solution to shavings management. A new shavings area is to be built at the site in 2010, exclusively for storing cast iron and steel. Dried and crushed CD4 and ALU shavings are recycled directly without transiting via the site.
Our ISO 14001 certification was maintained for the 7th in 2009. The audits conducted by the statutory auditors of the environmental accounts also confirmed the site’s good performance.
As part of the law on water, we are also preparing to obtain approval form the local water authority for our water treatment facility. Our objective for waste management is to replace “self-measurement” approval by regular waste monitoring (SRR).
As usual, on June 5, we held the Annual Environmental Convention to coincide with World Environment Day.