The care for the well-being of its Members, the communities surrounding the plants and the environment is a responsibility renewed every day by Braskem. From the development of security processes and sustainability projects, as well as the continued empowerment with training and capacity building of its Members, Braskem performs the integrated management of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE).
To achieve and maintain the desired excellence in HSE, Braskem has developed SEMPRE – the Integrated System in Health, Safety and Environment. It allows us to strengthen our risk prevention culture based on discipline and respect for the established safety processes and procedures.
Safety is a core value to Braskem and is one of the most important sustainable development macro objectives for the Company. It involves safety of work and processes, safe use of products, and safe waste generation.
The ongoing work in the Safety area brings excellent results. Currently, the frequency rate of accidents with and without lost time (considering Members and Partners) is only 1.00 – the best result in our history. The frequency rate of lost-time accidents, in turn, is 0.14, which represents an improvement compared to 2013.
Braskem continuously seeks to develop innovative solutions to generate lower environmental impact during the use of products by its Customers. This aims to reduce the generation of liquid effluents and waste, as well as energy and water consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The Scheduled Shutdown is one of initiatives to minimize and ensure the proper disposal of waste generated at Braskem. During the shutdown, the equipment is opened and cleaned, and construction, demolition and area organization activities are held, among other activities.
During this period, the teams work to reduce the generation of waste and identify the waste generate. It sorts the reusable waste and refers it to composting, recycling or reuse centers, turning some of them into business opportunities. For non-reusable waste, the Company promotes proper disposal, taking into account the environmental laws of the locality in which it is located.
On average, Braskem’s waste generation is 3.2 times lower than the average of the chemical industry in Brazil, which reaches 7.3 kg/t. The data are from the Brazilian Chemical Industry Association ( Abiquim ).
Present in very important process for the industry, such as heating and cooling of machines and boilers, steam and thermal energy production, water is essential in our production chain. Seeking to strengthen the sustainable use of this resource, Braskem has invested since 2002, the year of its creation in various initiatives for saving and reusing water. Since then, over R$250 million have been invested in projects that have improved the Company’s water efficiency and made it one of the chemical industries with the lowest water consumption rates in the world – about six times less than the global average, according to data from the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA).
Within this universe, two programs supported by Braskem stand out. The first is the Aquapolo project, created in 2010 by Odebrecht Ambiental in partnership with Sabesp (Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo). It is the largest enterprise for industrial recycled water production in South America and the fifth largest in the world. With state-of-the-art technology applied to the treatment of effluents, the initiative includes a production plant for recycled water, a pipeline, and an extensive distribution network. About 65% of the water produced there, i.e., 650 liters per second, are intended for the Petrochemical Complex in the São Paulo ABC region. This is equivalent to the supply for a city of 500,000 inhabitants. In São Paulo, the average reuse rate of the ABC, Paulínia and Cubatão plants is 87% – in the ABC alone, this reuse rate reaches 97%.
The second highlight is the Água Viva project, developed by a partnership between Braskem and Cetrel. The rainwater reuse and treated effluent system operates in the Camaçari Industrial Complex (BA) and is considered the largest in Bahia’s industry, providing 500-800 m³ of water per hour for the center. Investments came from Cetrel’s Innovation Program and had support from FINEP – the Innovation Agency of the Ministry of Science and Technology. The project should reduce Braskem’s water demand by at least 4 billion liters per year, reaching 7 billion liters in years of more rainfall. The saved volume will be equivalent to the average daily drinking water consumption of a city with up to 150,000 inhabitants.
Braskem is continually looking for solutions to improve its operating processes while increasing efficiency and ensuring good use of energy resources and use of fossil fuels. With that, the Company seeks to optimize energy consumption in its activities and reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere.
Click here to learn more about the Braskem Manifesto on Climate Change.
Click here to learn more about Braskem’s actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.