Environment Policy
Environment Management
In line with our commitment to sustainability, fulfilling our corporate responsibility to the Environment and the community is a key objective of Lafarge Plasterboard.
We believe that it is important to minimize the environmental impact of our activities, our products and our services. In order to prevent pollution and reduce emissions we have put into place an Environmental Management System (EMS), as described in the Lafarge Plasterboard Ltd Environmental Policy.
The Environmental Management System is externally registered for compliance with EN ISO 14001 : 2004 by BSI Management Systems for which the current certificate may be downloaded and verified on-line. Housebuilders using Lafarge Plasterboard products may use this document to claim code points within the Sustainable Materials section of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The registered EMS covers all our industrial activities in the UK. Our gypsum quarries are subject to the Lafarge Gypsum EMS which applies equally stringent environmental measures during material extraction and provides for quarry rehabilitation to the highest international standards.
During 2007 we commissioned our new Ferrybridge manufacturing facility which uses Flue Gas Desulphurised (FGD) Gypsum as its main raw material. FGD Gypsum is a by-product arising from the cleaning of emissions from power stations. Lafarge Plasterboard has contracts with operators at Cottam (EDF Energy) and Ferrybridge (Scottish & Southern Electricity) for this material, which will further increase the proportion of secondary raw materials within our products.
In recent years we have been expanding our recycling activities, setting up a separate and dedicated site for the receipt and processing of site plasterboard waste in 2006. In March 2007 we signed the new voluntary agreement on Plasterboard Waste Recycling brokered by WRAP and the GPDA. Please see our Sustainability pages for further information on our Waste Offer.
Our progress on improving resource efficiency and reducing emissions can be viewed by clicking this link.
