Situation

The Renault Sandouville plant is located in northern Normandy, in the municipality of Sandouville, specifically the industrial port zone of Le Havre. The plant has a total area of 152 ha, with buildings occupying 60 ha. Neighbouring companies include chemical and petrochemical facilities with a Seveso or high-risk classification.

Initial ISO 14001 certification obtained in 1998.

In December 1998, the Sandouville plant became the Group’s first body assembly site to receive ISO 14001 certification. The certification was renewed in 2001, 2004 and 2007.

Download :

- site's environmental policy (French)
- environmental declaration 2008 (French/English)

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Water consumption

Water consumption has been falling steadily since 1998. In 10 years, it has decreased by 73%. Water consumption per vehicle fell from 6.8 m3/veh. in 1998 to 3.1 m3/veh. in 2007, which is a 55% reduction.

Actions and resources implemented:

• installation of closed-loop cooling circuits,
• reduction in water consumption at the surface treatment process level (introduction of clean technologies such as ultrafiltration),
• discontinuation of the use of drill-water,
• improvement in operator behaviour.  
  

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Water-borne effluents

Changes to the surface treatment process have resulted in a substantial drop in discharges, particularly of metals and suspended solids, since 1998.

The decrease observed is partly due to the decrease in vehicle production, and to the optimization of the water treatment process at the treatment plant.

Note: figures are not on a like-for-like basis.

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SO2 and greenhouse gas emissions

 

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Volatile organic compounds emissions from paint process

Continuous improvement efforts in the processes of applying and recovering solvents have sharply reduced VOC emissions per painted vehicle over the past 10 years. The increase occurred between 1998 and 2000 was attributable to the launch of new vehicles (greater surface area to be painted and increased paint thicknesses).

Since 2002, there has been a steady drop, which reflects the continuous progress actions deployed in the Paint Department. The two water-based paint application lines, which have been operating since 2006, have brought emissions down even further.

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Waste

The change in waste tonnage is directly linked to changes in the plant's production, especially for metal offcuts, which account for 95% of OIW. In 2005 and 2006, the large quantities of inert waste were due to extensive civil engineering work on the site.

In 2007, the increase in OIW tonnages was due to the start-up of new stamping lines for the programme launch of Laguna III.

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Energy

The increase observed from 2000 can be attributed to the energy consumed by new facilities installed for production of new vehicles. The increase in energy consumption per vehicle since 2003 can be attributed to the lower number of vehicles produced.

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Highlights

 

 Thomas Caillieret, Environmental Manager:

“The implementation of an environmental management system, certified in 1998,  supported changes in behaviour by explaining daily best practices to adopt. An effort to identify and reduce environmental impacts expanded waste sorting in the workshops, applied quality assurance to the wastewater treatment plant, and raised staff awareness of the site’s emissions. The involvement of employees, subcontractors and service providers is key to deploying progress actions and attaining our targets: “the environment is everybody’s business!”.

At the same time, the environment has become an essential component of the vehicle and capacity projects. Upgrades of the site and new vehicle programme launches incorporated the best technology available: new clean-technology electrocoating, new VOC incinerator, end of open-loop cooling systems, and start-up of a packaging shuttle between the site and auto parts suppliers.

To cut VOC emissions, the site recently invested €60 million to upgrade the base application process.  Since June 2006, a paint that contains 10 times less solvent has been used on the two process lines."