The attendees of the gala ceremony Ecoleader 2007 included government officials of the Samara region, members of the Samara Regional Duma (parliament), leaders of regional municipal organizations and business, mass media.
Alex Calder, Alcoa Russia EHS Director, said that environment, health and safety (EHS) had been Alcoa’s primary focus since the acquisition of the Samara location. “EHS is more than just a priority for Alcoa, - emphasized Alex Calder, - Priorities can change with time, while EHS is our value, it is the way we work. Alcoa cares about safety, takes responsibility for the health of its employees and for the environment of the region. Our environmental initiatives in the community involve middle school students. I perceive this Ecoleader Award as recognition of our daily efforts in protection of people and environment.”
On receiving the award, Mikhail Fedorov, Samara Location Manager, emphasized that the plant system of environmental management was one of the first in the Samara Region to be certified for the ISO 14001 standard. The plant operates most advanced technologies to improve its results both in production and in environment protection. One of the latest and most outstanding achievements of the Samara plant was the use of regenerative burners in the casthouse furnaces. They allow the plant to reduce its gas consumption which results in lower emissions into the atmosphere.
“Using technological lubricant without kerosene will help us reduce our plant emissions of kerosene by 200-250 tons a year” – said Mikhail Fedorov – We started to use modern refrigerants, reduced the use of transformer oil which is environmentally neutral but its decomposition products are harmful to the nature. All these actions allowed us to improve the environment and we will continue working on it”.
