Sustainable manufacture of Colorcoat® products
Tata Steel’s Shotton site has been involved in the production of steel products for over 110 years and is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, one of the world’s top ten steel producers.
At the Shotton site, the European market leading Colorcoat® pre-finished steel products are manufactured for the construction market under factory controlled conditions.
Our environmental management system
As part of our commitment to sustainability, our environmental management system at the site is independently certified to the international standard BS EN ISO14001, we have ensured that all products are fully recyclable, and we have published environmental product declarations about the performance of our market leading Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® EPD and Colorcoat Prisma® EPD products.
Our Shotton operations take place in an environmentally sensitive area. We are surrounded by the Dee Estuary, which is designated as both a Special Area for Conservation, Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest.
An area of man-made lagoons within our boundary has similar environmental designations, being a breeding ground for common terns and an important reed bed habitat, leading to our proud tradition of co-existing with the natural world in this special place without compromising biodiversity.
Clearance and maintenance work is regularly undertaken to ensure the lagoon areas are preserved in optimum conditions and we manage the open areas of our site to maximise their potential as habitats to flora and fauna, including a wide range of breeding and migratory birds.
With nearly 50 years experience, we actively develop Colorcoat® products and processes to reduce their environmental impact to a level beyond mere legal compliance and be a considerate neighbour to our local community.
We have a target to reduce the Shotton site carbon footprint by 10% by 2016. Strategies for delivering this target include:
- A focus on operational energy reduction initiatives such as installation of variable speed drives on some equipment.
- Upgrading energy efficient lighting.
- Installation of two regenerative thermal oxidisers to reduce natural gas consumption on process lines, whilst simultaneously abating solvent emissions from coating processes
- Receiving 100% feedstock from South Wales by rail rather than road.
- Participation in an energy from waste scheme in which the site will take local household and commercial waste, that would otherwise have been landfilled, and converting this into a solid recovered fuel that can be processed to provide a major part of the site’s electricity requirements. Phase 1 of the project has already begun with the construction of a facility to process the waste and convert it into a solid fuel.
We have an objective to reduce the amount of process water being used, and to reduce the impact that our water emissions have on the environment, as we discharge into ecologically sensitive areas. Areas of focus include:
- Local treatment of incoming waters.
- Processing contaminated waters through our effluent treatment plant.
- Directing non-contact process waters, which are abstracted from river, away from wastewater treatment, and into the site lagoons, to maintain water levels at the SSSI.
- Identifying opportunities for water reuse through the installation of chillers and cooling towers.
- Implementing process improvements to reduce the use of water: use of closed loop cycles, use of no-rinse technologies.
We have an objective to increase the amount of site waste being recycled and/or re-used, and to reduce waste to landfill, year on year, by 10%. Areas of focus include:
- Reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. We have improved waste segregation for plastic, wood and paper across the site. Balers have been put in place for the recycling of plastic and card. Where it is not possible to recycle wood because it is damaged, broken pallets are sent to a local steam raising plant to be incinerated to provide an energy source.
- Recycling of Dry Mixed Recyclable (DMR) office wastes was introduced in 2011, whereby paper and recyclable office and canteen wastes are processed by a licenced waste processor.
- Coil packaging materials have been significantly changed so they can be recycled and the amounts used reduced. On site packaging is no longer disposable and has been changed to reusable magnetic bindings. Coil protectors are reused on site and only disposed of once they are beyond repair.
- Reusable isolated bulk containers (IBCs) have replaced paint being delivered and stored in one use drums.
- Solvents used for washdowns between paint changes are now recovered and taken offsite to be filtered, distilled and returned to Shotton as a 50% recycled blend.
We set a target to receive 100% of Shotton’s steel coil feedstock delivered from South Wales by rail. This would previously have been delivered by road. To facilitate this the site has made a £1.5 million investment in a new railhead which can more efficiently receive coils and minimise internal handling. This move from road to rail has saved over 3 million road miles per year, reducing road congestion and associated CO2 emissions. Zinc and paint deliveries to the site arrive by road.
Deliveries to customers are primarily made by road although some coils are transported by rail to Roundoak railhead in the Midlands for distribution from there. Up to 30% of Shotton deliveries are made in this way, saving 300,000 road miles per year.
We work with a major logistics company TDG to coordinate deliveries by road across Tata Steel sites, customers and third party hauliers. By linking outward journeys with return legs we have reduced the empty running rate, which is when vehicles are empty after completing their delivery, to 18%, over 15% lower than the industry average. This equates to a saving of 1 million road miles per year.
Shotton site has a strong association with the local community not least because many of our employees live locally. Our main community activities include:
- Building relationships with local schools, facilitating work experience placements, offering interview practice and work related workshops such as maths in industry sessions.
- Developing of a Shotton site educational facility. We have a classroom and nature trail around the lagoon area for use by local school children. A new hide was opened in 2010.
- Organising family days at Shotton site for families of employees to visit the site and see what we do.
- Supporting a local charity and organising fundraising activity at Shotton site during the year.
August 2011
