Translations Best practice in French version Best practice in English version

TEREOS reduces the impacts of its agro-industrial business on the environment

4. Environment

Waste management

Context

Tereos, a cooperative agro-industrial group specialised in sugar beet, sugar cane and cereals processing is committed to minimising the impacts of its operations on the environment. Various actions were implemented.

Objectives

  •   To limit the quantity of earth carried with sugar beets. 
  •   To reduce nitrogen discharges into water.
  •   To control odours and dust in sugar-making plants.  
  •   To recover bagasse, the cane fibrous waste.  

APPROACH

Tereos France has reduced the tare weight of the earth carried in beet trucks to sugar making plants from 26% of the weight carried in 2000 to 8% in 2010. This reduction maintains the earth required in the fields and generates transport and production savings: there is less earth to clean and transfer to settling tanks. The group has encouraged its co-operators producing beets to remove the earth in the fields voluntarily with an incentive price policy. In the Czech Republic, 100% earth removal by producers has reduced the tare weight (earth + beet crown) to 13%.

Tereos France is committed to reducing the nitrogen content in its water discharges from 30g to 10mg/l, with an analysis of its activity, from the field to discharges at the outlet of the plant on a partnership basis with scientific experts and the chamber of agriculture of Aisne.

In the Czech Republic, the TTD subsidiary of the Tereos group ensures that the impacts of the distillery of Dobrovice, which was founded in 2007 in the centre of the historical city, are limited: fumes odour control columns were installed to treat gases generated by the production of alcohol; trucks drive round the city; noise and dust are controlled.

In Brazil, with Tractebel (GDF Suez) Guarani is building a power cogeneration unit using bagasse, the fibrous residue of cane. In the Reunion Island, the sugar-making plants of Bois Rouge and Gol are the pioneers of such recovery of bagasse to produce bio-energy, to grow canes with a higher fibre content and increase the income of planters (13 euros/t more, including 10 for the planters). 

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

 

  •   Savings for the company: earth transport, waste to be treated.
  •   350,000 tonnes of biogases converted into  bio energy (new unit in Brazil).
  •   Image of the company, engagement of all 13,500 employees. 

Benefits

  •  The earth tare weight of beets has been cut down by 6 in 20 years.
  •  CO2 reduction. 
  •  Nitrogen discharges into water have been cut down by 3.
  •  Dissemination of good practice worldwide.  
Turnover
3.4 Milliards €
Country
Brazil

Mise à jour le 30/05/2016

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