Aluminium Bahrain Waste Minimisation Programme
This case study addresses Principle no. 8 from the Global Compact which is to "undertake
initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility".
Introduction:
Alba (Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C) is one of the world's largest aluminium smelters producing in
excess of 500,000 tonnes per annum of primary aluminium. The company, which commenced
operations in 1971 and has 2,500 employees, has a number of international, Gulf-wide and
national awards for its excellence in industry, human resources development and commitment to
the protection of the environment. Its casthouses have operated to ISO 9002 since 1994 and, in
addition, Alba was certified in 2000 as complying plant-wide with the ISO14000 Environmental
Management System standard.
Alba was invited to join the Global Compact initiative after it was one of only 12 companies in the
world to win the International Millennium Business Award for Environmental Achievement, an
award presented in 2000 by the United Nations Environment Programme in conjunction with the
International Chamber of Commerce.
Background:
In the mid 1980s when Alba began to plan for a major expansion, it was clear that the impact on
the environment would be beyond acceptable limits unless:
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the latest environmental control technologies were utilised in the expansion;
the existing plant was retrofitted with state-of-the-art controls.
This management decision paved the way for Alba to embark upon an environmental
management initiative even though regulatory controls were not in place for many years
after this. At the time, there was also no pressure from stakeholders or the supply chain
to implement such an initiative.
The initiative has been adopted throughout all the company's operations and sites and
was carried out in a phased manner starting with gaseous emissions, then liquid effluents
and finally solid waste. The focus on solid waste began in late 1999.
The commitment to the environment company-wide was translated into a formal
Environment Policy in 2000 as part of the ISO 14001 certification process. The
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Environment Policy, aimed to secure and maintain optimum standards of environmental
performance, includes:
the prevention of pollution
continual improvement in environmental performance
complying with all regulatory standards
recycling initiatives
setting objectives and targets
the training and awareness for all employees
Alba now also has a system of benchmarking its environmental performance against similar
smelters around the world and this reveals that the company is one of the leaders in its field.
Case Study Focus:
This case study focuses on the environmental achievements of Alba over the last 12 months. In
this time, the company achieved the Environmental Management System Standard ISO 14001 for
all its operations and also won a GCC-wide award for the 'best environmental activities by an
industrial establishment' presented by the GCC Environment Ministers earlier this year.
During the last year, and based on the solid platform of environmental achievements highlighted
above, Alba adopted a waste minimisation and recycling initiative as one of its focused
environmental improvement projects.
With its 450,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) coke calcining plant, 200,000 tpa anode manufacturing
plant, 1500MW power plant and 500,000 tpa aluminium smelter, the quantities of waste products
generated are significant. Accordingly, both the need for as well as the opportunities for waste
elimination, minimisation and recycling abound.
Planning and Strategy:
Firstly, a system was put in place to classify, measure and report on the different types of solid
and liquid wastes around the plant.
The well-established waste management hierarchy of:
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Elimination
Minimisation
Recycling and re-use
Disposal
was adopted as the way ahead for maximising the success of this initiative. With elimination and
minimisation being the cornerstone of the strategy, all the opportunities for this were explored
during this phase along with the system requirements, costs and training needs.
The next step consisted of evaluating the opportunities and avenues for recycling, using
segregation at source to avoid double handling wherever possible, and identifying which wastes
could be recycled.
Implementation:
The first phase of implementation involved the preparation of detailed procedures meeting ISO
14001 standards and the subsequent training of personnel. Objectives and targets were set for all
departments within the company.
The next step was to procure additional waste handling equipment and to negotiate contracts with
waste handling companies and recycling facilities.
Upon implementing the recycling initiatives, the employees became highly enthusiastic about the
whole programme, requesting the extension of recycling to more items of waste and to more
areas within the company.
Constant vigilance and follow-up even to CEO level in the initial stages helped immensely to
make timely corrections and readjustments and thus fine-tune the programme. Such extensive
communication on wastes with the workforce and external recycling facilities opened up a number
of further opportunities for waste recycling and minimisation.
One example of this is the recycling of ramming paste waste that is hazardous in nature.
Ramming paste is used in the re-lining of the electrolytic pots in the aluminium smelter but the
leftover ramming paste was being disposed of as a waste. Through trials it is being confirmed that
this waste can be used to substitute expensive alumina that is utilised for cathode bedding during
re-lining. This leads to a cost saving of BD3, 420 (US$9,000) per annum.
In a similar manner, waste refractory bricks are now crushed and used as a substitute for alumina
to obtain a flat horizontal cathode shell surface prior to the start of laying insulation bricks for pot
re-lining. This has led to a cost saving of BD7,315 (US$19,000) per annum.
The waste minimisation chart (below) shows the waste minimisation which has been measured
from the reduction in the waste category termed as general waste. All the recyclable items were
previously disposed of under this category of waste along with other routine non-hazardous
wastes.
The reduction in this category of general waste and the corresponding increase in recycled
wastes shown in the waste recycling chart (below) reflects the success of the programme.
Some of the recycled materials have also brought additional revenue to the company through
sales.
For example, the income from the sale of cartons, scrap steel and wood for 2001 is expected to
reach US$80,000. The chart below shows the success of the recycling programme from this
example of carton waste recycling.
Hazardous Waste:
In parallel with the waste minimisation project, another area under focus during the last year has
been the disposal of hazardous wastes.
The disposal of hazardous wastes was a major issue for Alba – and indeed other companies since there was no facility in the country for disposal or treatment of hazardous wastes.
The Environment Ministry attained a suitable and large enough plot of land and, subsequently,
Alba advanced finance for this US$1.5 million project.
The result of this partnership with the Ministry is the state-the-art hazardous waste disposal
facility (pictured) commissioned in March 2001 and now open to all industries in Bahrain. This
close co-operation between the Environment Ministry and Alba continues today.
By September, several items of hazardous wastes that were being accumulated at Alba, for want
of safe permanent disposal facilities, were disposed safely at this new facility. 60,000 cubic
metres of spent pot lining (SPL) waste that had been generated over the past years were
subjected to physical segregation at Alba. A small processing plant was set up on site and the
SPL was segregated into four fractions namely steel, carbon blocks, refractory and insulation
bricks, and the fine fractions which cannot be segregated. All the steel was sold to a steel
recycling furnace adjacent to Alba. The fine fraction alone was 30,000 cubic metres which was
disposed of at this new facility. The carbon and refractory portions are now being recycled in
ways that have been approved by the environmental authorities, and which generate a financial
return, to the extent that Alba alone has saved over US$1million in the process.
Conclusion – A Boost for Local Industry:
The recycling drive at Alba has given a boost to the local waste recycling companies in Bahrain.
Already there was one aluminium dross processing plant, Aluserv, which employs 25 people operating almost exclusively to process the dross wastes from Alba and recover the aluminium
content.
The paper and carton recycling company Alfa Express received a significant boost due to the
introduction of a paper and carton waste recycling programme at Alba. During the last one year,
17,000 kgs of clean waste paper was given free of cost and 88,000 kgs of carton waste was
given at a nominal cost of US$7.5 mt to this company.
Recycling companies Scrap-mould, Crown Metals and Bahrain Recycling Company are the other
three companies currently benefiting from the waste minimisation and recycling initiatives of Alba.
The partnership of Alba with the five companies mentioned adjacent to the plant makes for a winwin association - enabling Alba to further improve its housekeeping, minimise wastes, save costs
and, above all, prevent environmental damage.