Preserving the Environment

Text size
- -A
- +A

Managing our waste

Our goal is to decrease our environmental footprint by reducing our waste and developing treatment, recycling and recovery solutions.

Reduction, recycling, recovery

We are enlisting all our fields of expertise in our waste reduction effort.
For example, our Petrochemicals teams are developing increasingly high-performance polyolefins to allow a reduction in packaging thickness: less material used means less waste produced.
We are also developing biodegradable products, such as the lubricants of the Total Biohydran and Chainbio ranges.

Some waste is unavoidable, however, so we are also working on solutions to treat, recycle and recover it.
For example, we are partnering with Veolia on the Osilub plant now under construction in France, which will recycle used engine oils. When it comes on stream in late 2011, Osilub will give a second life to 120,000 metric tons/year of engine oil (as high-quality base oils, diesel fuel and asphalt). In addition, 45 direct jobs will be created. Total has a 35% equity interest in the plant.

Spotlight on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

Most computer and telecommunication equipment contains precious metals, aluminum, ferrous metals and copper. Much of it also contains substances that constitute health or environmental hazards such as lead, cadmium, mercury and halogenated compounds.

Scrapped electrical and electronic equipment must therefore undergo specific treatment to:

     - protect human health and the environment against the potential risks,
     - maximize re-use,
     - minimize waste.

In early 2010, we issued guidance applicable across the Group concerning the treatment of WEEE. This guidance spells out the standards that Total requires worldwide in this area, above and beyond local legislative and regulatory obligations.

The guidance is backed up by a practical guide and standard specifications for WEEE treatment. These resources are made available to all relevant players, including service providers.

Demanding traceability

Waste traceability is a key issue. In accordance with applicable legislation, our hazardous waste is transported and treated by specialized external partners. We regularly submit our reporting to public authorities, particularly our waste classification inventories and records of the treatment processes applied. We strive for continuous improvement in this reporting.

Pooling efforts

We know that pooling efforts is a way to accomplish more, more effectively, so we seek partnership arrangements whenever possible.

In Europe, our Total Petrochemicals subsidiary actively supports waste recycling and recovery initiatives. In the area of packaging waste recycling, Total Petrochemicals has partnerships with Valorplast in France, Plarebel and Val-I-Pac in Belgium and Cicloplast in Spain. To limit the environmental impact of plastics consumption, Total Petrochemicals also takes part in large-scale public awareness drives such as the "Vacances Propres" (clean vacations) program in France, under which household packaging waste is collected in vacation resorts during the summer months.

In solar power, Total in 2009 joined the PV Cycle association, which brings together most of the players of the European photovoltaic solar energy industry for the purpose of establishing a European value chain for the recycling of solar panels.

Contributing to the development of organized waste management chains

Waste treatment infrastructure is insufficient or even non-existent in some countries.

Accordingly, we strive to:

- pool resources between industrial players to establish treatment chains,

- set up suitable systems such as waste treatment centers integrated into production facilities.

In Gabon, Total has developed a pilot project that pools the management of waste from our various businesses. Hazardous waste that cannot be treated locally is aggregated and shipped to France for disposal in compliance with the Basel Convention, which regulates cross-border movements of hazardous waste. Used oils are collected and treated via a certified channel established by Total.

Feedback on this project will enable us to better identify the options that are the most efficient and the most replicable in other countries.

Stringent standards and transparency in dismantling the FSO⁽¹⁾ Serepca

The Serepca storage barge was moored offshore Cameroon. When it ceased operations in 2008, teams from Total and Sita were responsible for removing the waste and transporting it to Europe. First, the FSO's tanks were cleaned and the sludge brought onshore to be treated in a local cement plant owned by Lafarge. Transportation of contaminated material to Europe and transfer of the barge to China were carried out in accordance with the Basel Convention. The Chang Jiang Shipbreaking Yard met our criteria, which included impressive references, recognized certifications such as ISO 14001 and OSHAS 18001, and compliance with European Union standards, especially for asbestos removal. The entire project, which was completed in late 2009, was monitored at all times by the Platform on Shipbreaking⁽²⁾ , an umbrella NGO coalition of 13 NGOs.

(1) Floating Storage and Offloading (storage barge).
(2) Created in 2005, this NGO is today recognized as the preeminent international advocacy organization on issues related to end-of-life vessels. It brings together NGOs from developed countries and from others, such as India and Bangladesh, that are home to numerous shipbreaking yards (www.shipbreakingplatform.org)

Boîte à outils