Situation

The site has an area of 76 hectares, of which 30 hectares of buildings and 32 hectares of roads.  It is located in the southern industrial zone of Le Mans, close to the ring road.  The site is around 2 km from the city centre in a UZ area. The UZ classification refers to an area reserved for industrial activities, particularly regulated installations requiring authorization. The Sarthe river is less than one kilometre from the site.

 

Initial certification earned in 2000.

The site renewed its certification in  2006.
The ACI sites in France (Le Mans and Villeurbanne) and the plant in Romania share a single ISO 14001 certification.

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Water consumption

The site has cut its water consumption by 66% since 1998 through a number of initiatives including:

• the recycling of used machining or detergent baths by vacuum evaporation or centrifugation;
• reusing the water recycled in this way for a number of industrial processes;
• increasing the service life of treatment baths.
  

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Water-borne effluents

Emissions to water fell significantly between 1998 and 2005 and stabilized thereafter.

• an 80% cut in daily flows of toxic metals, by carrying out appropriate treatment before discharge to public sewers, with special plants to treat electrocoating waste, and lead-free electrocoating. 

• a 75% cut in daily flows of organic matter (OM) by introducing a system of total industrial fluid management (GTFI), which ensures zero discharges to public sewers of industrial wastewater from machining or detergent baths. 

• a 74% cut in daily flows of suspended solids (SS) by cutting the flow discharged (linked to water consumption).
  

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SO2 and greenhouse gas emissions

SO2 emissions have fallen by 49% since 2003, following the installation of a natural gas boiler in 2004, and the use of fuel-oil with a very low sulphur content.

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Waste

The tonnage of the different waste families fell between 2000 and 2005.

• a 20% cut in tonnage of inert waste from foundry sand thanks to improved management (other inert waste is correlated to the number of worksites conducted every year); 

• a 15% cut in tonnage of non-metallic ordinary industrial waste (OIW) (other OIW is correlated to variations in production);

• a 40% cut in tonnage of hazardous industrial waste (HIW): through the system of total management of industrial fluids (GTFI). The site is able to treat washing machine water, washing area water, and machining baths by vacuum evaporation. As a result, only 5% of these effluents are sent for waste treatment.            
  

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Energy

ACI has long been committed to reducing its energy consumption. This policy was significantly reviewed in 2005 and included in the plant’s environmental objectives with a target reduction of 10% for 2009.

To meet this ambitious objective, the site has set up an energy committee, reporting directly to the Management Committee.

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Highlights

 

 Nélain Philippe, Head of Environment, Prevention and Safety:

“In 2007 we continued our efforts to reduce wastewater discharges and energy consumption and improve waste sorting. The commitment of the plant staff was key to achieving positive results.”