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Recycling

We recycle hazardous and non-hazardous waste, aiming to minimise environmental impacts as well as the cost of materials and waste.

The largest waste component is solvent which has been used in the manufacturing process. Some solvent is purified on our sites and reused in the original manufacturing process. Sometimes we sell the solvent to commercial reprocessing companies, which we also include in the recycling statistics. Solvent which is not recycled in this way is usually incinerated.

Recycling non-hazardous waste such as glass or plastic usually means sending it for reprocessing so it can be reused to make new products.

Performance
In 2005, we recycled 278 million kg of waste (72% of the nearly 390 million kg of waste generated). Over two-thirds of the total waste recycled was hazardous waste, primarily solvents. The proportion of waste recycled was 2% higher than in 2004, but has decreased by 6% since 2001, mainly because we have generated less waste. This means we did not meet our 2005 target of a 10% increase in the proportion of waste recycled since 2001.

Production changes in the last two years contributed to more incineration of solvent waste, so we recycled a smaller proportion. Three of our large primary manufacturing sites are now back on track with recycling solvent, which has reversed the decline at those sites, although in 2005 we continued to have difficulty with recovery at some sites.

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