Caring for the well-being of its Team Members, the communities neighboring its industrial facilities and the environment is a responsibility renewed by Braskem on a daily basis. Braskem manages its Health, Environment and Safety (HES) on an integrated basis by establishing safety processes, implementing sustainability projects and regularly administering training programs for its Team Members.
To attain and maintain the desired level of excellence in HES, Braskem created the Integrated Health, Environment and Safety System (SEMPRE). The system helps to strengthen our culture of risk prevention based on discipline and respecting all safety processes and procedures.
Safety is a fundamental value to Braskem and is one of its most important sustainable development macro objectives . This value involves workplace safety, process safety, the safe use of products and solid waste generation.
Continuous efforts in the area of Safety have brought excellent results. Today, the recordable and lost-time injury frequency rate (considering Team Members and contractors) currently stands at only 1.00, which is Braskem's best result ever. Meanwhile, the lost-time injury frequency rate was 0.14, which represents improvement from 2013.
Braskem is always working to develop innovative solutions that reduce the environmental impacts generated by its products during their use by its Clients. These innovations aim to reduce wastewater discharge and solid waste generation, as well as energy and water consumption and the generation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Scheduled Shutdown is one of Braskem's initiatives for minimizing the solid waste it generates and for ensuring its proper final destination. During shutdowns, equipment and machinery are opened and cleaned, and any construction, demolition and organization activities are conducted, among other tasks.
During this period, the teams work to reduce the amount of solid waste generation and to identify the types of solid waste generated. Reusable materials are sent to composting, recycling or reuse centers, transforming them into business opportunities. Meanwhile, non-reusable materials are disposed of properly, in compliance with all applicable environmental regulations.
On average, Braskem's solid waste generation is 3.2 times less than the average of Brazil's chemical industry of 7.3 kg/t, based on data from the Brazilian Chemical Manufacturers’ Association ( Abiquim ).
Used in critical industrial processes, such as heating and cooling machinery and boilers, and generating steam and thermoelectric energy, water is fundamental to our production chain. To improve the sustainable use of this resource, Braskem, since its creation in 2002, has invested in a many different initiatives to save and reuse water. Since then, it has already invested over R$250 million into projects to improve its water efficiency, making it one of the world's chemical manufacturers that consumes the least water – nearly six times less than the global average, according to the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA).
Within this universe, two programs supported by Braskem merit special mention. The first is Aquapolo project, which was created in 2010 by Odebrecht Ambiental in partnership with SABESP, the São Paulo state water utility. It is the largest industrial water reuse project in South America and the fifth largest on the planet. With cutting-edge technology applied to the treatment of wastewater, the initiative includes a water recycling plant, a water pipeline and an extensive water distribution network. Around 65% of the water produced by the plant, or 650 liters per second, is sent to the Petrochemical Complex in the ABC Paulista region of Greater São Paulo. The amount of water saved is enough to supply a city of 500,000 people. In São Paulo, the average reuse rate at the ABC, Paulínia and Cubatão plants is 87%, and at ABC alone this rate reaches 97%.
The second project is Água Viva, which was created by a partnership between Braskem and Cetrel. Operating at the Camaçari Industrial Complex in the state of Bahia, the system for reusing stormwater runoff and treated wastewater is considered the largest in the state's industrial sector, supplying between 500 and 800 cubic meters of water per hour to the complex. The financial resources were provided by the Innovation Program of Cetrel, with the support of FINEP, a research and project finance mechanism linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology. The project will reduce Braskem’s water needs by over 4 billion liters per year, a figure that in years with high rainfall could reach 7 billion liters. This saves enough water to supply drinking water to a city with up to 150,000 residents.
Braskem is always seeking solutions to improve its operational processes, capture efficiency gains and ensure the efficient use of energy resources and fossil fuels. The company works to optimize the energy consumption of its operations and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Click here to read the Braskem Manifesto on Climate Change.
To learn more about Braskem's actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, click here .