Chemicals
Sector Case Studies
Huntsman Tioxide is one of the world's largest producers of titanium
dioxide pigments. They employ nearly 3,000 people worldwide, and
have factories in seven countries, including South Africa, Malaysia
and the UK.
They are committed to continually improve their environmental performance
and in 1993 set up the Materials Business with the primary aim of
converting all the co-product arising from pigment manufacture into
saleable products. Tioxide co-products are used mainly in agriculture,
water treatment and construction, but are also widely sold in the
animal feed, chemicals, beverage and paper industries. In 2001 the
Materials Business achieved sales in excess of one million tonnes
with the sale of over thirty products.
Huntsman Tioxide have recently launched an online report detailing
their site-based work on biodiversity. As part of the reporting
process, they undertook ecological and biodiversity surveys (birds,
mammals, reptiles, invertebrates and vegetation) of all their sites
in order to manage biodiversity on their landholdings and enhance
on-site conservation through habitat creation and management. Tioxide
enlist enthusiastic employees to be part of this monitoring process
who work, for example, in the UK in conjunction with local organisations
such as INCA (Industry Nature Conservation Association) and the
Tees Valley Wildlife Trust.
Biodiversity conservation work has led to ICI being awarded third
place in the Property Awards 2000 Environmental Category for its
Severnside conservation programme. ICI is one of the largest landholders
in the area, and developed an action plan to help protect estuarine
flora and fauna. The plan was developed in partnership local authorities,
local communities and interest groups, and aims to bring mutual
economic and environmental benefit to the area.
The landholding on Severnside includes a large stretch of estuary
foreshore - a RAMSAR site and SSSI. The estuary supports large numbers
of waders and wildfowl and is an extremely important migratory corridor
for birds. The creation of building-free "buffer zones"
allows access to adjacent inland countryside for migrating birds,
and new buildings and their settings have been integrated to minimise
environmental impact.
Photocredit: Manatees of Belize, Katherine
Lacommare |
