The sponsor has presented plans to address these impacts to ensure that the proposed project will upon implementation of the specific agreed measures, comply with the environmental and social requirements - the host country laws and regulations and the World Bank/IFC environment and social policies and the environmental, health and safety guidelines. The information about how these potential impacts will be addressed by the sponsor/project is summarized in the paragraphs that follow.
The narrative which follows reflects actions to improve environmental and social performance undertaken since IFC engaged with the company in late 2003.
- Environmental, health and safety management
IFC’s 2003 review identified environmental and OHS weaknesses which Carvajal is actively correcting. Since 2003, and overall Environment Manager has been appointed for the company, reporting to a Board member. Financial and human resources have been provided to complete an environmental improvement program which was summarized in an Environmental Action Plan which was published by IFC and Carvajal in April 2004. An updated version of this Action Plan is published with this Environmental Review Summary.
Environmental and occupational health and safety audits were undertaken throughout the company by external consultants. These studies included preparation of site-specific action plans which were designed to enable each site to develop environmental and occupational health and safety management systems capable of certification to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 respectively by mid 2008. System implementation continues.
- Emissions to air
Emissions to air result from boilers and fired heaters used at the printing and packaging sites, an incinerator at the packaging site, evaporation of solvent from printed materials, and from utility and recovery steam boilers and lime kilns at the Propal paper sites.
Printing and packaging boilers and heaters are small, and have very low emissions to air.
At the Flexa plastic packaging printing works, organic solvents (ethyl acetate and ethanol) which evaporates in the ink dying process is exhausted from the factory to ambient air. Carvajal has revised cleaning procedures to approximately halve solvent use, and now uses a small still to recover soiled solvent for sale for reprocessing: other solvent which is not reused in the plant is sold for reprocessing. A study is underway to determine the technical and financial feasibility to replace solvent-based printing processes with water-based processes. If practical, then printing processes shall be revised. If not, then Carvajal has undertaken to reduce solvent concentrations in exhaust air to IFC guideline values by mid 2007. Colombia does not regulate solvent emissions from printing processes.
Printing ink residues which were formerly incinerated are now sent for disposal at a licensed landfill site.
Since 2003, Propal has implemented maintenance and low-cost investment projects to reduce particulate emissions from its power and recovery boilers. Other air emissions met local and IFC requirements. Further improvement is required: this will come about through a major power-house rehabilitation project which will involve boiler replacement, upgraded pollution control devices and increased co-generation-based electrical power generating capacity. This project should be complete by late 2007.
- Emissions to water
Effluent emissions from Propal’s paper mills did not meet IFC’s quality requirements, and specific water use in Propal’s mills was high. Propal has developed water-use reduction projects which are under implementation. These will be followed by sludge removal from aeration lagoons to increase retention time, and then by such aeration improvements as subsequent investigation may show necessary to meet IFC and local quality criteria.
Propal has monitored river sludge and effluents and did not detect any dioxins. However, partial conversions of pulp bleaching from elemental chlorine to chlorine dioxide bleaching agent has been undertaken at Caloto and preparatory work for this (replacing bleaching towers and pulp washers) has been undertaken at Yumbo mill. Project completion is planned by the end of 2007.
More generally within Carvajal, operating companies have audited water use, and implemented projects to reduce water use and contaminant loading in effluent. Effluents now meet local requirements, and at most companies meet IFC guidelines. Effluent quality improvement work will be completed in 2006.
- Hazardous materials management
Considerable control is exercised in Colombia over access to and use of hazardous materials, because many hazardous materials used in industry are also consumed in production of narcotics. Carvajal therefore has been required to institute strict controls over access to hazardous materials. Comprehensive written procedures on hazardous materials management exist and are followed.
Disposal of hazardous materials is at licensed secure landfills.
- Community development and social programs.
Carvajal and Propal are active in these areas, though support provided respectively to the Carvajal and Propal foundations.
The Carvajal family established the Carvajal Foundation in 1961 and donated to it 35% of the stock of the company. The Carvajal Foundation now has 80 full-time employees, and works in a variety of social programs including:
- Social Construction / Housing,
- Basic Services,
- Entrepreneurial Development,
- Education,
- Health,
- Arts and Culture, and
- Environment & Social Management, in the Aguablanca barrio of Cali.
Three centers in Aguablanca have wholesale markets (where small shop-owners can buy good at wholesale prices), clinics, a construction materials depot, branches of Women’s World Banking and other financial institutions, community centers, computer labs, schools / Montessori pre-schools, movie nights and other activities to enhance the economic and social development of the Aguablanca community.
The Propal Foundation was established in 1991 (i.e. before Carvajal’s ownership of Propal) and in a similar way provides basic services to the populations around its factories in Yumbo and Caloto.
The main activities in Caloto are the operation of a clinic and food wholesaling. The clinic has 18/20 full time doctors providing general practice care, and a range of more specialized services. Around 800 patients are treated monthly, and the clinic has links with hospitals including some in the USA. Health care provision is important in Caloto which is a remote, rural, sugar growing area with problems of HIV/AIDS, alcoholism, malaria and leprosy among others. The wholesaling business provides food and basic goods on a cash-basis to small shopkeepers who then sell on to the community. The small shopkeepers have reliable supplies of goods, do not have to travel to Cali to obtain them and pay lower prices than otherwise and pass savings to customers. The foundation also has clean water and SME development initiative, which are linked to providing services required by the mill and other local factories.
