Situation

The Ayrton Senna complex is located in an industrial district of Sao José dos Pinhais, in the metropolitan area of Curitiba in the state of Parana, Brazil.  The complex covers an area of 2.5 million m2 in the industrial zone. The buildings occupy an area of 258,000 m2. And 60% of the total area is covered by unspoilt forest. The closest homes are 250m from the site boundaries, and the closest schools are 1 km from the site.

Initial ISO 14001 certification obtained in 2003.

The site renewed its certification in 2003 and 2006.

The site received Highly Protected Risk (HPR) certification in 2002.

Download :

- environmental statement 2007-2008 (brazilian/english)
- environmental statement 2005 (brazilian/english)

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Water consumption

Water consumption rose as a result of higher output. A second shift was implemented at the Curitiba Passenger Car plant, which contributed to that increase.

Considerable awareness-raising efforts have been made to reduce water production.

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Water-borne effluents

In 2006, the plant introduced a lead-free electrocoating process. To prevent pollution, the Ayrton Senna Complex has 9 holding tanks for stormwater and accidental spillages.

Wastewater is treated by a physical/chemical process in the site's treatment plant. It is then piped to the public treatment plant at Sanepar.

The Curitiba powertrain plant was designed as a "zero industrial discharge" facility.  All machining and washing systems are connected to central units equipped to minimize discharge quantities. Two small evaporators treat the final discharge, the aqueous component of which is recycled for process use. As a result, the site does not need a system for removing industrial discharges or to invest in a treatment plant. 

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SO2 and greenhouse gas emissions

SO2 and greenhouse gas emissions remained stable between 2002 and 2006, despite production growth.

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Volatile organic compounds emissions from paint process

VOC emissions per vehicle were reduced through efforts at every stage in the bodywork painting process and the introduction of water-based paints.

The main atmospheric emissions are VOCs, levels of which remained constant from 2004 to 2007, despite the increase in the number of vehicles produced. That was the result of efforts made at every stage of the bodywork painting process.

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Waste

The Ayrton Senna Complex has a global waste management system. All waste generated by the complex is centralized on the site, sorted and sent to recycling companies. The destinations of the waste are tracked and the service providers are audited.

Ordinary industrial waste (OIW) and hazardous industrial waste (HIW) tonnage rose. That can be attributed to the increase in production with the launch of two new vehicles in 2007.

Fundamental actions were also undertaken, such as the use of durable packaging and optimized sorting at source.

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Energy

The plant put the energy committee in charge of monitoring energy performance.  The target is to reduce energy consumption.

Energy was saved through concrete actions, such as programming heaters and shutdown of transformers operating outside working hours.

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Highlights

 

 Enrique Depouilly, Environment and Risk Prevention Manager, Americas Region:

For World Environment Day on June 5, the Ayrton Senna Complex organized a Sustainable Development Week to raise staff awareness of environmental issues and corporate responsibility. Several exhibitions were organized on these themes. During the week, a 12 km race was organized with the City of Curitiba, the City of São José dos Pinhais and Renault do Brasil. There were more than 2,000 participants in 2007. 

In 2007, several studies were conducted with the Federal University of Paraná.  One study was an inventory of fauna at the Ayrton Senna Complex: a total of 112 bird species and 28 mammal species were identified. Another study concerned the use of treated sludge to make bricks.

Renault Brazil has done a lot of work on the vehicle life cycle, in particular recycling. The vehicles manufactured at the Renault Brazil plant are 85% recycled. The recovery rate of waste generated by the Ayrton Senna Complex is 99%.