The production activity of Ciech Group companies involves the necessity to use the environment which results in a disturbance of its natural balance. The awareness of the environmental impact and the necessity to face increasingly stricter legal requirements obligate the companies to control and monitor the course of production processes, with a particular focus on their environmental impact. All Ciech Group companies strive after a minimisation of the environmental impact through an efficient use of raw materials and energy, reduction in emissions to air, water and soil, reasonable waste management, as well as application of solutions improving the security of operation of technological installations. The company’s care of the environment is visible through a wide range of pro-environmental investments implemented every year, which result in significant effects including reduction in pollution emissions and a considerable improvement in the condition of the environment in the neighbourhood of production facilities.
Most of the Ciech Group companies have an extensive, long-term experience in working on the implementation and maintenance of environmental management systems, in compliance with ISO 14001 standard. They often form a part of integrated management systems including also quality, occupational health and safety, and food safety management. Furthermore, Zachem and Organika-Sarzyna companies have signed the Responsibility and Care Programme. The companies use the environmental management systems as the basic tools to reduce the environmental impact, at the same time optimising the utilisation of resources in their possession, and to create a positive image perceived by all stakeholders of the Ciech Group. It is of utmost importance in the case of enterprises representing the chemical industry, which has been identified as the main source of the environmental pollution for many years.
In view of the fact that individual production companies exert different environmental impacts, which results from local conditions and specificity of the technological processes applies by them, the Strategy and Capital Investment Office at Ciech SA has taken a very important initiative to develop a coherent pro-environmental policy covering the entire activity of the Ciech Group. In June 2009, the Management Board of Ciech SA signed the Environmental Declaration of the Ciech Group, which is the essential document of the environmental activity coordination system being now implemented in the Group. The said declaration sets out the general direction and methods of performance of activities that will enable to manage production processes in an environmentally-friendly way.
The environmental activity coordination system in the Ciech Group is not a standardised environmental management system. It has been developed for internal purposes of the Group, in order for Ciech SA to support the activities taken by the companies in the area of the environmental protection and to focus on the environmental management idea. At the same time, the companies maintain their own environmental management systems, the majority of which are subject to the certification procedure in compliance with the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard.