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Even though we have become an increasingly larger waste generator, at present Chile is one of the least cultured OCDE countries in recycling and reuse practices.
Based on official estimates, less than 10% of the nearly 17K tons of waste generated each year is recycled.
In order to address this challenge, in 2016 the Ministry of the Environment drew up a new Comprehensive National Solid Waste Management Strategy designed to raise, in the medium term, from 10% to 25% the current percentage of waste reutilization.
In like manner, the new law 20.920 was enacted in 2016, in the spirit of “reducing the generation of waste while encouraging its reuse, recycling and other types of recovery by putting in place the extended producer responsibility and other waste management instruments”, to protect the environment and people’s health.
The above law mandates producers and manufacturers of six priority components (lubricant oils, electric and electronic appliances, batteries, containers and packaging, tires and energy cells) to arrange and fund the recovery of the waste generated by their products.
In this sense, the “Zero Waste” strategy launched by the CAP Group companies promotes waste recycling and reuse and, in some cases, even the commercialization of these products in the market.
Below are some of the initiatives implemented last year by the affiliates, in line with the corporation-wide recycling and reutilization culture the company is wants to install:
CAP Acero: This is the largest waste generator in the Group though most of these volumes are commercialized as by-products. In 2017, a project dedicated to the recovery of ore from waste was completed by CAP Acero and it closed a commercial deal with a foreign company to produce high iron-content briquettes with the iron obtained from the different steel-making process by-products.
CAP Minería: The recycling campaign launched at the pellet plant and Los Colorados mine aimed to separate recyclable waste (paper, cardboard and PET bottles) from the remaining waste continued to applied. To that effect, specific points were fitted out in the operations where the material is collected before being taken to the recycling center (Punto Limpio) in Huasco. Likewise, an initiative was started to recover the timber used in the packaging of imported components with the purpose of donating this material to local communities. This is done only after the material has been released by SAG and after the Atacama Regional Ministerial Secretary of Health has been informed. This will allow to extend the useful life of pallets and crates in good conditions.
It must be pointed out, also that the Magnetita plant operations rely on the processing of copper tailings coming from a nearby mine.
Steel Processing: This operation modified the polyurethane-insulation board manufacturing process, which will be translated into 50% reduction of material surplus. On the other hand, Tupemesa launched a Segregation and Sale of Recycled Material project designed to identify recyclable material to later on sell it and thus reduce the amount of solid waste to be disposed of in sanitary landfills. In 2017, all workers were trained on the right way of segregating materials. Tasa, in turn, will start a paper and plastic bottle recycling campaign with the support of Proyectar Foundation.
CAP S.A.: In 2017, the CAP Group corporate building disposed of 3.5 tons of waste in a final safe place. That year, recycled materials increased in 1.5 tons in excess of 2016 broken down as follows: 3,127 kg cellulose, 363 kg plastics, 7 kg glass and 11 kg metals. It must be noted that, in October 2017, a new recycling center was added in the corporate building where electronic devices, such as batteries, compact disks, printer cartridges and cell phones with their accessories can be disposed of.
WASTE GENERATED IN 2017
| Minería | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | |
| Waste (tons) | n.i | 14,254,915 |
| Tailings (thousands of m3) | 5,987 | 4,785 |
| Minería | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | |
| Volume of reused environmental liabilities (tons) | 5,089,363 | 6,181,657 |
| Minería | Acero | Processing1 | New Businesses2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2017 | |
| Industrial, hazardous | 2,319 | 2,981 | 1,251 | 1,083 | 545 | 553 | 18 |
| Industrial, non-hazardous | 2,456 | 3,578 | 424,481 | 394,160 | 3,516 | 5,968 | 17 |
| Domestic | n.i | 622 | n.i | 370 | n.i | 395 | 7 |
| 1 Includes Cintac only. 2 Includes Aguas CAP only. |
|||||||
| Minería | Acero | Processing | New Businesses | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | |||||
| Volume of recycling | 2,746 | 384,553 | 5,946 | 0 | 0.01 | |||||||
| Recycling and/or reuse | 17% | 49% | 98% | 97% | 83% | 90% | 0% | 0.004% | ||||
Minería
In 2017, CAP Minería produced 4,785 million m3 of tailings and 441.3 thousand m3 of liquid residues.
Tailings resulting from iron-ore production are inert and innocuous.
Acero
In 2017, the steelworks generated 45,266 million m3 of effluents.
Before being discharged through three sea outfalls, these effluents are processed in a water treatment system operating at the company.
CAP Acero discharges its effluents outside the coastal protection zone in compliance with DS90 that mandates companies to apply high measurement standards to their discharged water volumes.
Processing
The materials generated by the Lonquén plant were subsequently sent to a water treatment plant managed by a sanitary company in the area.
Liquid waste from Tasa and Tupemesa are removed as solid waste (in drums), therefore they are not considered effluents.
New Businesses
The effluents generated by this affiliate come from water withdrawn by the desalination plant and, later on, returned to the sea.
In 2017, this operation extracted 17,395 million m3 of seawater, out of which, 10,119 million m3were discharged back into the ocean; that is, 58%.
| Minería | Acero | New Businesses1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Effluents (thousand m3) | n.i. | 7,193 | 441,3 | 48,055 | 49,399 | 45,266 | 11,301 | 10,533 | 10,119 |
| 1 Indicator includes only Aguas CAP. | |||||||||
CAP respects and protects land and marine ecosystems existing in the areas where its activities are developed. While CAP operations does not border biodiversity-related sensitive areas, the company has pledged to preserve the zones where its operations take place by implementing programs designed to protect the native flora and create awareness among the communities on the importance of protecting those environments. By the end of 2017, within all its areas of influence, the Group was protecting a total of 270 biodiversity-rich hectares.
As part of this corporate strategy, CAP Acero has assumed the protection of 202 ha. covered by native flora, of the wetland sector located within its Talcahuano plant.
In Copiapo, CAP Minería continued to maintain a 4.7-ha. plantation of chañares (geoffroea decorticans), with over 5,000 specimen, as part of a collaboration agreement entered into with the Colla indigenous community.
Since 2016, the company keeps a plantation of Cactaceae and relocalized shrubs in some land plots located near Los Colorados mine. In 2017, these species were assessed for their survival status with highly favorable results.
The transport of bulk material from mine deposits to their processing plants and, then, to shipping ports is a material management issue for the company.
In late years, a number of measures have been incorporated to its railroad system with the purpose of reducing these impacts; among these are the periodic cleaning of railroad cars and the installation of acoustic screens at some points along the road.
In 2017, with the object of meeting Res 1315/2017 issued by the Superintendence of the Environment and the APDPH, and in order to prevent iron-ore preconcentrate scattering in the train conveying material from Los Colorados mine to the pellet plant, the following steps were taken:
Increase of crew workers engaged in the railway-cleaning program.
Railroad cars were submitted to automatic hydrowash.
The weighing system was approved to check the maximum tonnage per car.
The car screeding system was modified in order to prevent preconcentrate from overflowing the dome.
Additives were applied at Los Colorados mine to reduce material scattering in the cars.
A temporary system of plastic covers was implemented in the cars. The final closed domes will be installed during 2018.