Concern for the environment is increasingly becoming a cornerstone on the road to its preservation, whether through pollution prevention or the rational use of the resources necessary for the development of any productive and economic activity.
By placing greater demands on a company in terms of responsibility and giving back to the surrounding social and cultural environment, it also contributes to improving the living conditions of its employees and the community in which it operates, as well as to the sustainable development of the region, the country and even the planet.
Aware of the importance of preserving the environment and its responsibility towards its employees and the surrounding community, ETMA has been continually updating and complementing its Environmental Policy for many years.
Demand, rigour and innovation are values that ETMA defends and that it imposes as a fundamental condition for sustained and sustainable development. And it is by subscribing to the principles of Responsible Care that the company has been conducting its business.
ETMA therefore reaffirms its commitment to:
- Identify and minimise environmental impacts and risks arising from their activity;
- Establishing and monitoring environmental objectives and targets defined in the environmental management plan, guaranteeing the necessary means to fulfil them. And, to this end, continuously improving its environmental performance.
- Promoting the rational and efficient use of raw materials, energy and natural resources;
- Calculate the company’s carbon footprint and implement measures to reduce it;
- Calculating the company’s carbon footprint;
- To train and motivate its employees in the application of good environmental practices;
- Influencing customers, suppliers and partners to adopt responsible environmental and social behaviours and practices.
ONGOING GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES
- EPTARI – Industrial Wastewater Pre-Treatment Plant
Imagens: Dell’acqua
Water is an essential commodity for life and, as such, we must preserve it and take measures to contain its use and, whenever possible, ensure that it is treated after use in the various production processes.
As ETMA is an environmentally responsible company, it wanted to go further in its environmental responsibility by implementing all the measures to ensure that its effluent treatment is on a par with the best in this area.
Thus, at ETMA, the EPTARI – Industrial Wastewater Pre-Treatment Plant is essential for treating the water resulting from the galvanising process, as it becomes wastewater. To do this, it needs to be treated so that it can then be discharged into the municipal sewer, in accordance with current environmental legislation.
In other words, EPTARI is prepared to treat industrial effluents, removing physical-chemical treatment, i.e. the various contaminants in which the various metals resulting from the production process of the galvanising line stand out.
In this context, over the years ETMA has invested heavily in implementing the best available techniques for treating its industrial effluents, with a degree of automation that allows it to monitor the treatment system remotely, without having to travel to the EPTARI – Industrial Wastewater Pre-Treatment Plant.
Imagens: Dell’acqua
Because of the importance of this equipment, in the second half of 2017 ETMA renovated the existing EPTARI on its premises, making it a safer, technologically refurbished structure that is still up to date today.
As well as having internal access, ETMA also has technical assistance from Dell’acqua. This solution enables ETMA to anticipate problems and/or intervention situations that are quickly resolved by joint intervention of its technicians or Dell’acqua technicians.
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Photovoltaic panels – two-stage implementation
Another of ETMA’s endeavours has been in the area of renewable energies. Certified under the NP EN ISO 14001 standard since 2010, ETMA is committed to pollution prevention and continuous improvement as part of the normal business management cycle.
In 2015, ETMA invested in photovoltaic panels, a major investment for the company since solar energy is, from an environmental point of view, a clean and sustainable energy.
In a second phase, in 2019, ETMA reinforced the installation of more photovoltaic panels, as a result of realising that they are a sustainable option for generating energy, capable of protecting the environment and safeguarding natural resources for generations to come.
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Waste – reuse and valorisation
ETMA has already signed up to the MEWA service, which makes it possible to reuse cleaning cloths from the company’s machines. All dirty cloths are collected and washed in an environmentally correct way, reducing the production of hazardous waste.
It should be noted that, in 2019, all the waste resulting from ETMA’s activity was sent to a licensed operator, of which 79% underwent a recovery operation and 21% underwent a disposal operation.
NEXT STEPS TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Aware of the current environmental emergency, and in the context of the Environmental Management System it has implemented, ETMA will, throughout 2020, put into practice the planning of new good environmental, preventive and mitigating practices, ensuring compliance with legal requirements.
One of society’s biggest challenges is undoubtedly to prevent environmental degradation and the contamination of water sources and soil.
A possibilidade de utilização de resíduo como matéria prima tem sido umas das principais fontes economicamente viáveis e ecologicamente corretas para algumas empresas que adotam a reciclagem ou a utilização de material reciclado no seu processo produtivo.
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Compliance with the 3 Rs Policy
ETMA is already implementing the fulfilment of this objective internally with its employees:
REDUCE
- Reducing paper consumption
ETMA is already implementing the goal of reducing the number of paper printouts to what is strictly necessary, as well as continuing to use recycled paper. In this way, it contributes in two ways to preserving the environment.
In 2018, ETMA recorded an annual total of 267,543 impressions, but the following year saw a reduction of around 5 per cent, with impressions totalling 253,891.
In view of the efforts already made, ETMA aims to increase the percentage reduction to 10 per cent by 2020.
Firstly, each ETMA office/department will analyse and check, as a team, whether the documents they print are necessary for archiving or whether they are merely unnecessary printouts.
After this stage, each office/department manager will inform ETMA’s Environment department of the actions they intend to take to reduce paper use.
Other simple but valuable actions are also being passed on to all employees. Some examples:
- Configure the printers to save paper:
- Mandatory double-sided printing;
- Black and white printing is mandatory.
- Use technology to avoid unnecessary printing:
- Encourage colleagues not to print out documents that, once read, will be discarded and not archived;
- Encourage colleagues to use digital methods to read documents that would otherwise be discarded.
- Reducing plastic consumption
Mesmo não sendo possível eliminar a totalidade do consumo de plástico, é possível reduzi-lo substancialmente. Em 2019, a ETMA utilizou 1950 kg de plástico no embalamento de mercadorias, pelo que, em 2020, compromete-se a reduzir este número.
The first step began at the beginning of this year and consists of finding alternatives to the packaging currently used.
ETMA is counting on the collaboration and contribution of its customers to make this action a success. The fulfilment of this objective will only be possible with their support and partnership.
A campaign to encourage customers to help reduce the use of plastic in their industrial activity is therefore being planned for the near future, with the aim of jointly finding environmentally responsible alternatives to its replacement.
REUSE
Before putting the paper out for recycling, check that there is no other way to reuse it.
The aim is for the disposable sheets to be handed in to the Environment department so that they can then be turned into notebooks.
RECYCLE
Put paper that cannot be reused in the cardboard available in all departments.
A commitment from everyone!
At any time, no matter how small the gesture towards protecting the environment, it will always be a behaviour that makes a difference. It is the duty of all of us to contribute as much as possible to sustainable development. Whether individually or collectively, in our homes or in the workplace, the consequences of our actions will determine the quality of the future for generations to come.
ETMA and its employees are already making their contribution.