Alcoa 2001 Annual Report Download - page 25

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Trevor Bennett, Huntly, Western
Australia and Tanya Bonnici,
Booragoon, Western Australia
23
ranging from safety
to production costs.
■7.9 million hours
worked without a lost
workday accident,
representing more than
1,600 workdays.
■Absenteeism reduced
66%, to 2.16%, from
1998 through 2001.
■Zero circuits or
finished goods reworked
in the plant since June
2001.
■Zero obsolescence
in raw material since
November 1999 and
zero obsolescence in
finished goods inven-
tory since June 2001.
■Average delivery per-
formance 99% on-time.
■Break-even point
reduced 44% since
June 1998.
Focus on
Environment
Sustainable
Development
Alcoa established an
environmental program
combining the quest for
perfection underlying
the Alcoa Business
System and the princi-
ples of sustainable
development. Alcoa
businesses developed
their own goals within a
comprehensive frame-
work. Progress will
be measured against
environmental perform-
ance in 2000, except
for greenhouse gas
emissions, where the
base year is 1990.
New targets for the first
10 years include:
■By 2007, reduce land-
filled waste by 50%;
NOxemissions by
30%.
■By 2008, reduce mer-
cury emissions by 80%;
process water use
and discharge by 60%;
volatile organic
compounds by 50%.
■By 2010, reduce SO2
by 60%; greenhouse
gases by 25%.
Other program ele-
ments are management
systems, accountability,
cost savings through
recycling and other ini-
tiatives, product design,
and community
involvement.
Breakthrough
in Waste
Treatment
Spent pot lining (SPL)
is an unavoidable waste
product of the elec-
trolytic process used in
smelting aluminum.
It is a hazardous waste
because it contains sig-
nificant amounts of
absorbed fluorides and
traces of cyanide.
Aluminum producers
usually send the material
to landfills. The
Alcoa Portland SPL
Process transforms SPL
to usable aluminum
fluoride and a harmless
granulated vitreous
material called “synthet-
ic sand.” The new
process results from an
eight-year, A$26 million
effort involving Port-
land Aluminium, Alcoa,
Ausmelt PTY Ltd.,
and Australia’s CSIRO.
The Environmental
Protection Authority of
Victoria, Australia, has
approved the synthetic
sand for unrestricted use
as long as it continues
to meet a strict fluoride
leachability standard.
Likely uses include
commercial applications
such as road making
and concrete. Portland
Aluminium has success-
fully used the reclaimed
aluminum fluoride
in its smelter, reducing
its need for imported
aluminum fluoride.
Greener
Recycling
In July, Alcoa opened
a highly automated
aluminum recycling
plant in Avilés, Spain,
to remelt painted and
lacquered aluminum
scrap and thermal
brake products. The
plant’s emission pro-
cessing system, unique
in Europe, prevents
the release of paint par-
ticles to the atmosphere.
A+ for the
Environment
Two of Alcoa’s Mill
Products plants were
recognized for improv-
ing the environment.
The Lancaster, Pa.
facility received the
Pennsylvania Gover-
nor’s Award for Envi-
ronmental Excellence
for 2001 for its efforts
leading to beneficial
reuse of spent mineral
spirits. The project
reduced the plant’s
Kevin Barnett,
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, USA
Luigino Floris, Sardinia, Italy