Announcing the 2017 European Responsible Care Awards

The European Responsible Care Awards 2017 organised by Cefic are now open for entries. The Responsible Care Programme has been at the heart of the Chemical Industry for many years.  And each year, the Responsible Care Awards enable chemical companies to demonstrate their commitment to this unique initiative. But be quick - the final date for applications to be submitted is 10 May 2017.

The European Responsible Care Awards provide Cefic member companies the opportunity to share effective and innovative projects for cooperation up and down the product chain, energy efficiency and combating climate change initiatives, health, safety and environmental excellence that demonstrate the business value of Responsible Care and its ability to enable engagement with stakeholders.

Cefic is looking forward to your entries and for 2017 is particularly encouraging SMEs to participate. Take part in the competition and get your work done in front of the people that matter! The Awards will be presented at a ceremony during the Cefic Chemical Convention in Vienna that takes place on 27 October 2017.

What does it involve?
Do you believe your organisation deserves increased visibility for its commitment and accomplishments in applying the Responsible Care principles? Are you keen to present your efforts and achievements that are actively contributing to the Responsible Care objectives? Do you consider your project outstanding?

The 2017 European Responsible Care Awards, managed by Cefic, are looking for examples in one of the three categories (listed below) that embrace the Responsible Care ethic.

1. Chemical substances safety
Projects that demonstrate their excellence in addressing health and safety issues related to products in the way they are developed, manufactured, distributed, used and disposed of in a responsible manner. This category recognises value chain projects that help companies set up and improve their chemicals management procedures. It also recognises projects related to the Product Stewardship initiative which, in line with chemicals regulations, addresses management of risks and improvement of the performance of products in the fields of health and safety during its entire life cycle.

2. Occupational health, process safety and security
Projects that either

• demonstrate their excellence in occupational health, by the means of improved or sustained health programme performance and a healthy workforce and workplace, which includes but is not limited to management commitment, employee engagement and evidence of a culture of proactive health risk management and well-being support initiatives, or 
• demonstrate their outstanding and exemplary record in implementing effective process safety management systems from process design to continued operation and routine maintenance, best practises and improvements for chemical prevention, preparedness and response to reduce major process hazards and risks for on-site operations, or 
• demonstrate their outstanding performance in management practises to protect people, property, products, processes, information and information systems by enhancing security, including security against potential terrorist attacks of industrial sites.

3. Environment Responsibility
Projects that either

• demonstrate excellence in environmental processes and products over their life cycles so as to avoid harm to people and the environment by reducing their pollutant emissions to air, water and soil and to limit environmental hazards related to their operations through the development of innovative technology. Also using resources efficiently and minimising waste, or implementing solutions for a circular economy, or
• demonstrate their outstanding performance in energy efficiency, renewable or low-carbon energy along the supply chain. This area gathers projects that relate to the SPiCE3 initiative, that effectively contribute to, or favour, a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and have a proven impact across the whole economy. This category also addresses the efficient management of energy to improve practises and technologies in heat and power generation, the review of the steam flow in processes and its optimisation, and the use of electricity.

Judging criteria
Entries will be assessed by a panel of independent judges, including representatives from EU institutions, other industries, trade associations and the media. Judging of all entries will take place in June 2017. The jury will select one winner in the each of the three categories.

Winning projects should have elements of originality, innovative features and best practise sharing within the chemical industry and with customer industries.

For more information about the 2017 Responsible Care Award, including guidelines for applications and information on past winners, please visit the Responsible Care Award pages on the Cefic website, or contact Katleen Raes at Cefic.

Latest E4Water Newsletter out!

The fifth E4Water newsletter has just been published. The newsletter covers news and events from this important FP7 project including news on a prestigious award, results from one of the project's case studies and other news and events.

The main feature in the newsletter is on the success of the E4Water Solvic Case Study in Antwerp, Belgium which won one of the European Responsible Care Awards during a special ceremony at the Cefic annual general assembly in Paris on 17 October. Solvay SA won in the Environment category for their work in this E4Water project together with Evides and Vito. The case study project was praised for “Saving water through symbiosis” and “Looking at the bigger picture”.

A related feature describes the third pilot facility now installed at the Solvic site in Antwerp. This “Mobile Kit” is a transportable mini-electrolysis unit and aims to demonstrate the possibility for recycling the salty effluents from a neighbouring industry partner into one of the manufacturing loops at Solvic.

In other articles project partner Evides Industriewater in the Netherlands is profiled and their work within E4Water described and E4Water's activities at the annual conference of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water that took place in Barcelona, Spain on 5 and 6 November 2014 is outlined.

What is E4Water?
With the chemical industry providing the highest potential to demonstrate increased eco-efficiency in industrial water management, the FP7 project ‘Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry’ (E4Water) addresses a range of crucial process needs to overcome bottlenecks and barriers to a fully integrated and energy efficient water management system.

The project’s main objective is to develop and test integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies. There are six industrial case study sites at the core of E4Water that are expected to achieve a reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in waste water production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% in direct economic benefits. In addition to the chemical industry, the project is actively seeking opportunities for cross-fertilisation with other industrial sectors.

The project consortium brings together large chemical companies, leading European water sector companies and innovative research and technology development centres and universities. The partners are also involved in the Water supply and sanitation Platform (WssTP) and SusChem, the European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry, and actively collaborate with water authorities in different European countries.

For more information about SusChem involvement with water issues, please contact Antonia Morales-Perez at Cefic, or visit the water priority page on the SusChem website.

E4Water study wins at 2014 European Responsible Care Awards

The ‘Saving water through symbiosis’ initiative led by Solvay SA has won the 2014 Responsible Care Environment Award organised by Cefic. The initiative is part of the SusChem-inspired ‘E4-water’ FP7 project, which aims to save large volumes of potable water and virtually eliminate discharges of salt and liquid waste. Solvay’s contribution is based on three units installed at their site within the Port of Antwerp Chemical Cluster. The first two units are already fully operational and are currently saving the company 33 cubic metres of water every hour. 

The first unit involves recycling of wastewater through ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis membranes to produce demineralised water that can be used in Solvay’s chemical processes. The second unit can produce this demineralised water from brackish surface water, pumped up from the river and harbour near the plant. Both modules are possible thanks to support from two other companies, Evides Industriewater and Vito nv.

The third module capitalises on the previous two. The aim is to treat an external company’s salted waste water and use the resulting purified water and salt concentrate in Solvay’s manufacturing processes. In this way, the external partner avoids effluent production and Solvay gains additional water savings of 20 cubic metres per hour.

Besides saving water, the project serves as an industrial ‘experimental garden’. Companies are motivated to work symbiotically, and experiments and demonstrations are carried out for external users.

In awarding the prize to the E4Water case study the judges commented: “Water is a key issue for the chemical sector and the Solvay entry is a very good, up-to date project which offers another fine example of industrial ecology.”

Responsible Care® is the global chemical industry’s unique initiative to improve health, environmental performance, enhance security, and to communicate with stakeholders about products and processes.

About E4Water
The chemical industry provides the highest potential for increasing eco-efficiency in industrial water management. The Economically and Ecologically Efficient Water Management in the European Chemical Industry (E4Water) FP7 project addresses crucial process industry needs, to overcome bottlenecks and barriers for an integrated and energy efficient water management.

The main objective of the project is to develop, test and validate new integrated approaches, methodologies and process technologies for a more efficient and sustainable management of water in chemical industry with cross-fertilization possibilities to other industrial sectors.

E4water unites in its consortium large chemical industries, leading European water sector companies and authorities, innovative RTD centres and universities, the European Technology Platforms SusChem and WssTP.

E4Water aims to achieve an expected reduction of 20-40% in water use, 30-70% in wastewater production, 15-40% in energy use and up to 60% direct economic benefits at its industrial case study sites. E4Water builds on state-of-the-art and new basic R&D concepts. Their realization, improvement, utilization and validation, with the compromise of early industrial adaptors, are clearly innovative.

You can download the latest E4Water newsletter here.