Working towards a cleaner planet
Waste products have an impact on the health of our planet. We all have to be careful about what we leave behind. That’s why waste reduction is so important to DSM.
Reducing and eliminating landfill disposal
Non-hazardous waste has traditionally been disposed of in landfills...something that is still done today. This, however, is changing, and landfills are being used less than before.
We amply achieved our reduction target of 5% for landfilling of non-hazardous waste. The landfilling of non-hazardous waste was reduced by approximately 3,000 tons in 2010 compared to 2009. A major reduction resulted from a successful shift from landfill to a composting facility at DSM Nutritional Products Belvidere, USA. Other changes were mainly the result of changes in one-off disposals of waste materials and the deconsolidation of several units.
Hazardous waste poses other challenges. We intend to ban the landfilling of hazardous waste when feasible alternatives exist, as reflected in our 100% reduction target. In 2010 a total of approximately 8,300 tons of hazardous DSM waste were landfilled, which is significantly higher than the 2,800 tons landfilled in 2009. The vast majority comprised material from the DSM Anti-Infectives site in Toansa, India. For all material it was shown that no technically feasible and legally permissible alternatives existed. DSM therefore considers the reduction target to have been achieved.
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