Regulatory compliance
In total, over 47,000 environmental measurements were carried out at all of Umicore’s industrial sites compared to some 43,000 in 2006. These measurements are done to verify environmental compliance with the applicable regulatory requirements, permits and/or local standards. They typically include waste water sampling and ambient air monitoring but also environmental noise measurements.
In 2007, 763 of these measurements exceeded the environmental standard compared to 1,418 in 2006. As a result, the overall excess rate for 2007 came down to 1.6% from 3.3% in 2006 (figure 8). This decrease is caused by the reduction of non-compliant metals levels in the waste water at the Guarulhos site (Precious Metals Products and Catalysts) (see also emissions to water).
The Precious Metal Services business group counted a higher number of compliance measurements because of the transfer of the precious metal refining activities at the Hanau site to that business group.
Umicore on the way to sustainability