Continued

Elementis Chromium
Chromium has properties that extend the life of articles such as leather, timber and metals. It is extracted from large chrome ore reserves in South Africa, which while not renewable, are extensive. Elementis purchases chrome ore from a third party.

In promoting pro-active Product Stewardship, Elementis Chromium is engaged with chrome platers through membership of the 'Surface Engineering Association' HSE committee and as an active member of the 'British Surface Treatment Suppliers Association'.

Elementis Chromium is also active in Product Stewardship for the leather tanning industry, participating in a project to achieve the gasification of leather waste. Elementis Chromium is part of a UK Government sponsored Sustainable Technology Initiative project, which is conducting a life cycle analysis on leather.

The Company acts as industry coordinator for the European Existing Substances Regulations for hexavalent chromium products. Elementis Chromium is also part of the CEFIC sector group for sodium sulphate producers.

Elementis Chromium is working with the Institute of Occupational Health at Helsinki University on the impact on human health of trivalent chromium in chromium chemicals, metal and stainless steel. This is designed to meet the respective industries' foreseeable obligations under the REACH proposals.

Specialty Rubber
The major raw material for production of Specialty Rubber's Linatex is rubber latex, a naturally occurring product, produced from the sap of rubber trees. Elementis Specialty Rubber purchases rubber latex from a third party supplier.

The process used by Specialty Rubber in producing Linatex is more ecologically friendly than other similar processes. Conventional processes for turning latex into solid rubber generate considerable quantities of liquid and solid waste, which are landfilled. In comparison, the Linatex process generates no liquid or solid waste in normal operation. All chemicals are fully incorporated into the rubber product and the water in the latex is flashed off as steam. Because of the full incorporation and superior mixing in the Linatex process, lower chemical addition rates are used in comparison to conventional processes. The microwave energy used for drying is more energy efficient and generates fewer emissions than conventional hot air dryers.

Specialty Rubber has developed a process for re-processing cured rubber waste into a usable product which eliminates the need to dump this waste to landfill.

The longer in use life of Linatex results in a lower overall consumption of rubber in our customers' operations and consequently less rubber to be disposed of after use.

Distributors
Work led by Elementis Chromium is addressing the issue of how to ensure that Product Stewardship is maintained down the supply chain. Ensuring that distributors of our products also follow best practice is of particular concern.

Resource conservation
All sites are active in maximising yields through the formal 'stable manufacturing' improvement process, which reduces variability. A number of Six Sigma improvement projects over the past two years have also contributed to resource conservation.