L&T is a responsible corporate citizen, and being a leading environmental management company it carries a particularly heavy responsibility with respect to environmental issues. That is why L&T’s day-to-day operations are guided by the principles of sustainable development and corporate citizenship.
By offering its environmental competence to its customers, L&T is making its customers better equipped to meet their environmental obligations and to reach their environmental targets. Furthermore, L&T makes every effort to anticipate changes in environmental standards and values, and strives to influence them by developing methods and technologies.
Supporting sustainable development
By recycling waste materials and industrial by-products, L&T is promoting material recovery and is thereby acting in accordance with EU’s and Finland’s environmental agenda. L&T processes part of the waste materials into recovered fuel, which can be used as energy, and the company is also a major supplier of wood-based biofuels. In addition, L&T collects and processes hazardous waste. Any reject materials not suitable for recovery are directed to safe final disposal. In addition, L&T offers sustainable service solutions for property and plant management. Base oil produced by L&T Recoil is used as a raw material in the lubricants industry.
The most significant negative environmental impacts of L&T’s operations include the emissions and noise of vehicles used for collection and transport services, and of work machinery. To minimise these impacts, L&T acquires low-emission vehicles and focuses on better route planning.
Waste material recovery reduces carbon dioxide emissions
Wood-based biofuels and recovered fuels supplied by L&T replace fossil fuels in energy production. Due to their biomass content of 60–80 per cent, solid recovered fuels produced by the Environmental Services division are considered a renewable source of energy. These fuels are manufactured from sorted trade and industry waste that is not suitable for material recycling.
L&T’s secondary raw material and fuel deliveries reduced Finland’s carbon dioxide emissions by more than two million tons in 2008, which is a little more than a year earlier. This quantity accounts for about a half of all emissions generated by the road transport of goods in Finland. The carbon dioxide emissions from L&T’s own operations fell despite the growth in operations. In 2008, emissions shrank by almost seven per cent from the previous year, thanks to measures such as better transport efficiency.
CO2 emissions and calculated CO2 emission reductions from L&T’s operations
|
1000 tonnes CO2 equivalent |
2008 |
2007 |
2006 |
|
Emissions |
|
|
|
|
Emissions from transport and machinery |
59.2 |
64.5 |
67.4 |
|
Emissions from travelling |
2.5 |
2.3 |
2.0 |
|
Emissions from energy consumption of plants and offices |
8.5 |
8.1 |
7.7 |
|
Total |
70.2 |
74.9 |
77.1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Calculated CO2 emission reductions |
|
|
|
|
From materials recycling |
279.8 |
279.3 |
278.7 |
|
From supplies of renewable fuels |
1,757.7 |
1,683.8 |
1,863.6 |
|
Through recycling plants to landfills |
-12.5 |
-12.2 |
-12.6 |
|
Total |
2,025.0 |
1,950.9 |
2,129.7 |
The figures were calculated based on L&T’s operations in Finland using a model created by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The calculated reduction in emissions covers the entire chain from waste/raw material collection to secondary raw material/recovered fuel consumption.