Braskem won the Liderança Return On Environment 2008 award granted by GE-Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric Company, for its excellent results in the Reduction in Solid DCH (dry chlorinated hydrocarbons) Waste project at its PVC plant in Marechal Deodoro/AL. Besides the economic gains, Braskem stopped generating 2400 tons of DCH per year, a volume equivalent to 70% of the total amount generated by the unit prior to the project.

This is Braskem’s third industrial project geared towards the reduction of impacts on the environment to be awarded by GE in the past three years. In 2006, the Marechal Deodoro plant won the same award for the project to reuse liquid effluents, which has been generating a savings of 1 billion liters of water per year. Last year, another unit from Alagoas, which makes chlorine soda in Maceió, won the Ecomagination award, the most important one granted by GE. In this project, which also reduces liquid effluents, Braskem achieved a savings of 500 million liters of water per year, which corresponds to the consumption of a city with approximately 10 thousand inhabitants.

"Winning yet another award demonstrates Braskem’s commitment to the promotion of sustainable development, generating benefits for society and for future generations," says Luis Felli, vice-president at the company’s Vinyl Unit.

With the objective of maintaining excellence in Health, Industrial Safety and the Environment, Braskem invested R$ 130 million in programs in this area in 2007 alone. They are part of a list of actions that seek continuous improvement in the company’s production processes and its ecoefficiency. 

In the past five years alone, Braskem achieved important ecoefficiency indicators, which shows it commitment to growth that is founded on social responsibility, economic-financial solidity and environmental responsibility. The indicators that have been consistently evolving include: 9% reduction in water consumption, 10% reduction in energy consumption, 43% reduction in liquid effluents and 50% reduction in solid waste.