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Sustainability Report 2009 - 2010 of HERA Holding. Enviromental company

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Page 1: Sustainability Report 2010
Page 2: Sustainability Report 2010

… I, a vegades, contra tot pronòs-tic una gran bestie-sa capgira allò que crèiem lògic, Tot fent evident, Que per un moment,Ens en sortim ... I, a vegades, contra tot pronòstic una gran bestiesa capgira allò que crèiem lògic, Tot fent evident, Que per un moment, Ens en sortim ...I, a vegades, contra tot pronòstic una gran bestiesa capgira allò que crèiem lòg-ic, Tot fent evident, Que per un moment,Ens en sortim ... I, a vegades, contra tot pronòstic una granbestiesa capgira allò que crèiem lògic,Tot fent evident, Que per un moment,Ens en sortim ... I, a vegades, contra tot pronòstic una gran bestiesa capgira allò que crèiem lògic, Tot fent evident, Que per un moment,Ens en sortim ... I, a vegades, contra tot pronòstic una granbestiesa capgira allò

… I, a vegades, contra tot pronòstic una gran bestiesa capgira allò que crèiem lògic,

Tot fent evident,

Que per un moment,

Ens en sortim.

From the song: Captatio BenevolentiaeAlbum: Els Millors Professors Europeus

Group: Manel

*See Appendix 7.3 for translation.

Page 3: Sustainability Report 2010

For queries or further information about the Sustainability Report please contact:

Neus Colom

Numancia 185, Planta 6 · 08034 Barcelona

Tel. +34 93 205 10 10

[email protected]

Printed on totally chlorine-free paper

Design and production: www.fusion-creativa.com

English translation by Anne Barton de Mayor

Printed by Tecfoto SL

Legal registration B.29118-2011

Barcelona, July 2011

Page 4: Sustainability Report 2010

Table of contents

1 Strategy and analysis .......................................................... 51.1 Chairman’s Foreword ........................................................................................... 5

1.2 ................................................................... 7

2 Highlights ............................................................................. 82.1 Presence of the HERA Group .............................................................................. 8

2.2 ................................................................................................... 9

2.3 .......................................................................................... 10

2.4 Interview: ‘The waste treatment plant: our contribution to sustainable growth’ .. 11

3 Report parameters ............................................................ 133.1 Report outline ..................................................................................................... 13

3.2 Report scope ...................................................................................................... 13

4 .............................................................14

4.1 Recovery activities ............................................................................................. 164.1.1 From waste to materials/renewable energy ........................................ 164.1.2 From wastewater to clean water .......................................................... 244.1.3 From emissions to renewable energy .................................................. 284.1.4 From contaminated land to usable space ........................................... 31

4.2 Disposal/elimination activities .......................................................................... 34

4.3 Logistics .............................................................................................................. 39

5 Commitment to stakeholders ............................................41

6 Governance ..........................................................................51

7 Appendices ..........................................................................53

7.1 Basic GRI grid of contents ................................................................................ 53

7.2 Glossary ............................................................................................................... 55

7.3 Translations of lyrics and poetry ...................................................................... 56

3

Page 5: Sustainability Report 2010

Strategy and analysis

1. Strategy and analysis

1.1 Chairman’s foreword

With this 2009-10 Sustainability Report, HERA once again fulfils its com-mitment to providing detailed information about its activities in compliance with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines.

Following a two-year period marked by a tremendous crisis in the world’s economy – whose most significant impact on the Group’s activities was a decline in manufacturing in Spain and, therefore, a drop in the volume of industrial waste we process – we know that this is no time to rest on our laurels but a time to strive for sustained and sustainable growth in our areas of expertise, areas that have helped make us what we are today.

We continue to invest heavily in search of new technologies to achieve ex-cellence, in environmental and economic terms, in the treatment of our own and customers’ waste, adapting to today’s ever changing circumstances, with the unwavering conviction that this is the time to dedicate more de-termination than ever to maintaining our high standard of compliance with environmental legislation.

But the changes and redesigned activities and ideas imposed by the times in which we live will not affect the features that have distinguished us for more than 25 years, features that will enable us to create a company well prepared to face the future.

Pablo Solesio López-Bosch

HERA Group Chairman

5

Page 6: Sustainability Report 2010

Strategy and analysisStrategy and analysis

MissionThe HERA Group seeks to contribute proactively to the world’s environmen-tal, economic and social sustainability.

In particular:

For the HERA Group, environmental sustainability means growth based on the following pillars:

Reduce» :Use less energy and fewer materials in processes and products.

Renew» :Recycle waste and emissions and use renewable, natural resources.

Respect» :Acquire clean uses and sources of energy with minimum, non-haz-ardous emissions and waste.

Restore» :Decontaminate and enhance the natural, municipal and industrial surroundings, offsetting and mitigating any negative effects, and recovering land.

Vision To effectively close the cycle of resources by developing technologies and management systems designed to ensure they are constantly recycled.

Our aim can no longer be simply to avoid environmental impact.

Values Commitment to people

Respect for people’s integrity and dignity. »Trust in people’s ability to create value. »Humility and goodness. »Independent, ethical decisions. »Flexibility, adaptability and trustworthiness. »Active link between the company and its professionals. »Dialogue and responsible conduct between the company and its »stakeholders.

Commitment to environmental excellence

Minimise environmental rucksacks and carbon footprints. »Sustainable management of basic resources: materials, water, energy »and land.

On-going eco-innovation. »

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Page 7: Sustainability Report 2010

Strategy and analysis

Since its creation two dec-ades ago, the HERA Group has gained sustainability ex-pertise from its dedication and determination to open up a new era, an era of re-sources in which waste is not deemed to be merely worth-less rubbish but a resource with great re-use and recov-ery potential.

The period covered by this report was characterised by

a worsening of the economic and financial crisis that caused a widespread downturn in production which in turn triggered a drop in the waste managed, particularly by our facilities in Spain. The impact of this reduction on our earnings in 2009 is clear to see but in 2010 we managed to achieve a stable turnover of some €100 million.

Against this backdrop we have made great efforts to cut costs, resulting in more effective recruitment and purchas-ing management. In this respect I would like to highlight the commitment and efforts of all our employees and thank them for collaborating so wholeheartedly. These measures as a whole resulted in a 10% increase in our 2010 EBITDA over 2009. It must be said that during this cost cutting we continued to improve factors related to health, safety and environmental protection, for we know that in the medium and long term, these measures not only foster a safe and stable environment but also make for more efficient waste management.

We have continued to participate actively in R&D&I projects in conjunction with acclaimed research centres and uni-versities. One offshoot of this commitment to innovation has been the development of sludge recovery and waste gasification technologies. During this two-year period, for example, we have carried out trials at our pilot plant in Castellgalí (Barcelona) with a view to extending the use of plasma gasification to the recovery of other materials including fluff, biomass and dry sludge.

One aspect that sums up this period best and guarantees our future progress, is our expansion outside Spain. The numbers speak for themselves, particularly in Latin Ameri-ca where turnover has increased by 27% in this period.

I would also like to mention one of our main projects, the Vallès Occidental waste treatment plant inaugurated on September 9th 2010. The construction and operating of this plant was awarded in February 2007 to the tempo-rary consortium CTR Vallès Occidental led by HERA with a 60% stake. Able to process 245000t of solid urban waste, this plant serves a population of more than 800000. For further details of this plant’s contribution to the sustain-ability of the surrounding area, may I suggest you read the interview in paragraph 2.4 below.

As regards our commitment to our stakeholders and, more specifically, the communities near our facilities, we have continued to do our utmost every day to build a fluid, transparent relationship with them that also contributes to greater environmental awareness by: organising guided tours of the facilities (our plants have welcomed more than 1000 visitors in this period); actively collaborating with educational establishments and universities; and, when-ever possible, creating educational ‘environment rooms’ in our new-build facilities. However, a disaster on an unprec-edented scale occurred in this period too: the earthquake in Chile. Naturally enough we helped the community with reconstruction.

Our Residu’Art awards held for the fifth time in 2010 pro-vided not only an innovative insight into recycling and re-use but also a platform for young artists.

For all the above reasons we can look forward optimisti-cally to the future for we have succeeded in laying solid foundations enabling us to adapt to change whilst contin-uing to grow and contribute to sustainability both inside and outside Spain.

The intention of this Sustainability Report is to offer an accurate portrayal of our considerable contribution to so-ciety, the economy and the environment. You are warmly invited to enjoy this report and encouraged to make any suggestions you may have for improvement.

Jordi Gallego

HERA Group Chief Executive Officer

7

Page 8: Sustainability Report 2010

Highlights

2. Highlights

2.1 Presence of the HERA Group

France Germany

Djibouti

Mexico

Ukraine

Portugal

Chile

Colombia

Brazil

Argentina

Spain

Vallès Occidental WTP (Vacarisses, Spain)

8

Page 9: Sustainability Report 2010

Highlights

Recovery activities

From waste to materials/renewable energyMechanical and biological treatmentGeneration of biogas by anaerobic digestion of organic matterRecovery of paints and solventsRecovery of precious metalsRecovery of steelworks dustRecovery of construction and demolition waste (CDW)Recycling of old tyres

From wastewater to clean waterTreatment of leachates (wastewater generated by waste management) Industrial and municipal wastewater treatment

From emissions to renewable energyBiogas capture and recoveryFlexible mechanisms established in the Kyoto protocol: CDM and JI projects

From contaminated land to usable spaceAdvanced soil remediation technology

Disposal/elimination activities

Controlled landfills for hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Logistics

Hazardous waste transfer plants

trecycled materials

375 tdecontaminated soil

1734 cu.m.treated water,

the Group’s own facilities

47245126 kWh of

renewable electricity generated, avoiding the direct and indirect

1 of CO2

2 emitted by the household

electricity consumption of a population of 172 2452

a

531 employeesin Spain, Europe and Latin America

Turnover: €

EBITDA: €13.5 million

Waste managed:

tincluding 23% processed by

recovery plants

g g y g y p gelectricity in a coal-fired power station. 2. Source: Zero CO2 Project by Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo and Fundación Natura.

9

Page 10: Sustainability Report 2010

Highlights

2.3 2009-2010 highlights

GeneralTendency towards globalisation. Turnover in this period fell 6% in Spain and increased 27% in Latin America.

Diversification of turnover by areas of business, without affecting the Group’s intention to boost recovery activities: 44% recovery, 38% disposal and 15% logistics.

Great cost-cutting efforts: costs reduced by more than €2.5 million.

R&D&I, particularly in the project to improve and optimise biomass gasi-fication with cogeneration.

Recovery activitiesVallès Occidental WTP opened on September 9th 2010. Capacity: 245 000t SMW per year. Investment: €90 million

Construction of SMW mechanical and biological treatment plant in France (Tournan en Brie). Capacity: 65 000t/yr SMW. Investment: €20million.

Anaerobic digestion of organic materials began to expand into Ko-rea, China and Canada through local partnerships.

Construction and commissioning of recycling of old tyres plant in Navarre.

Participation in the operating, start-up and adjustment of an SMWtreatment plant using plasma technology in Ottawa (Canada). Capacity: 30 000t/yr.

Start of globalisation of industrial and municipal wastewater treat-ment: initial contacts in France and Brazil.

Turnover of treatment plant management up by 40% thanks to op-portunities pinpointed in a context of change.

Contribution to reduced CO2:

Two » clean development mechanism (CDM) projects: one in Chile and another in Mexico.

First Spanish group to work on a » joint implementation in the Ukraine.

Start of globalisation of natural concentrated, compressed biogas technology.

The Group’s soil remediation activities stepped into the international arena in 2009 in Portugal.

DisposalExpansion of disposal activities into Brazil. The Group already has two plants in this country able to handle a total of 100 000t/yr of solid mu-nicipal and industrial waste.

Turnover in Latin America climbed 27%, up 60% on 2008.

Transfer activities Two new waste transfer plants in Álava and Galicia.

Vallès Occidental WTP (Vacarisses, Spain)

10

Page 11: Sustainability Report 2010

Highlights

The Vallès Occidental waste treat-ment plant (WTP) inaugurated on September 9th 2010 was the culmi-nation of years of effort and work towards sustainability by the HERA Group.

The contract for the design, construc-tion and 15-year operating concession of this plant was awarded by public tender in February 2007 to CTR Vallès, a temporary consortium consisting of the companies HERA Amasa, FCC and Urbaser.

The developers of the infrastructure were the public authorities that com-prise the Consorcio para la Gestión de Residuos del Vallès Occidental (responsible for running the plant) and ARC (Catalonia’s waste manage-ment authority) with an investment of some €90 million. This edition of HERA’s Sustainability Report features an interview in which Miguel Ángel Sanz, Director of the HERA Group’s Public Service Business Unit, briefly explains this plant’s contribution to the sustainable social, economic andenvironmental development of the surrounding area.

Miguel Ángel, please tell us about

The Vallès Occidental WTP in the town of Vacarisses, Barcelona was inaugu-

rated in September 2010 after several years of work within the framework of Catalonia’s Municipal Waste Manage-ment Infrastructure Scheme. This plant – a benchmark for the region and all of Spain – will serve the 800000 residents in the towns of Vallès Occidental.

The plant has a total floorage of 32700 sqm on a 48000 sqm site and can handle 245000t/yr of the non-organic fraction of municipal waste. The waste undergoes thorough, in-novative mechanical and biological processing using cutting-edge tech-nology. This maximises the recyclable materials that are recovered and also stabilises the organic content and transforms it into organic substra-tum suitable for a variety of uses. This processing also minimises the amount of final waste.

ter whilst building the WTP?

One of the main difficulties in design-ing and building the WTP was how to adapt it to the site’s gradient and geo-technical considerations. The plant is on a mountain side so it had to be built on several levels, a complicated matter calling for special foundations and stabilising the terrain. Fortunately, because the people involved in the dif-ferent phases of the plant’s construc-tion were all very professional and dedicated, all the obstacles were over-come and the plant is now a reality.

How much and what sort of mate

rials will be recovered?

The materials recovered will be fer-ric materials, aluminium, HDPE, PET, blended plastics, plastic film, Tet-ra Paks and cartons. It is envisaged that a total of 21000t/yr will be recy-cled and that 40000t of stabilised material will be obtained from the or-ganic content of the non-organic

2.4 Interview: ‘The waste treatment plant: our contribution to sustainable growth’

Interview | Miguel Ángel Sanz‘The waste treatment plant: our contribution to sustainable growth’

fraction.

A complex project

Investment: €90 million.

Completion times: 3 years pre-works studies and procedures plus 2 years construction.

Works: construction of 32700 sqm of total floor-age; processing capacity: 245000t/yr.

All waste fractions consist of different parts that can be prevented, re-used or recycled in a variety of ways (macro and micro recycling, eco-efficient en-ergy recovery) and finally, a part that must be safely disposed of.

The disposal phase deals with the dry residue generated after treatment in the WTP once the waste has un-dergone all the recycling processes. This residue is disposed of in the Coll Cardús controlled landfill situated just a few metres from the plant. The dry residue deposited in the control-led landfill is used to level the site in preparation for definitive closure. This avoids the C02 emissions generated when transporting waste thanks to the proximity of the final treatment.

How is the plant environmentally

The plant is sustainable too. First of all, because of its ideal location near where waste is generated, which re-duces waste transportation, but far away from towns which minimises possible nuisance to residents.

One of the WTP’s main design criteria was to make it blend into the land-scape. The sheds were therefore built partly underground to respect the

Miguel Ángel Sanz, General Manager, Public Service Business Division

11

Page 12: Sustainability Report 2010

Highlights

site’s topography, with walls partly camouflaged by plant embankments and even roof gardens shaped to blend in with the surroundings too.

The impact of emissions and wa-ter consumption is minimal too. The plant is powered by electricity ob-tained from biogas recovered from the Coll Cardús controlled landfill. The water used in the plant’s proc-esses is harvested from the roofs and from the leachate generated by the Coll Cardús controlled landfill.

How much direct employment

does the plant generate? When

recruiting, is priority given to

people from the surrounding

region?

First of all it must be said that dur-ing the two years when the WTP was being built an average of 90 people worked directly on its construction. As regards the operating phase al-ready under way, a staff of 80 is envis-aged. During recruitment, priority has been given to people from the town of Vacarisses and the Vallès Occiden-

tal region where the plant is located.

Is this plant designed to promote

environmental education and

awareness?

Prior to the construction project, a resi-dents’ information desk was set up in Vacarisses with a mock-up of the fu-ture facilities and information panels.

An information and communication scheme is planned to inform the gen-eral public about the WTP’s activities with a view to raising awareness and getting all the agents in the surround-ing area involved in waste manage-ment.

The main communication aims are to encourage the general public to par-ticipate and collaborate in managing waste correctly and also to inform about the innovative technology used in processing. This will be achieved by using a variety of communication vehi-cles, plus an environmental education scheme for the plant’s guided tours, and other activities including open days and participation in environmen-tal forums.

Its use of renewable en-ergy, re-use of water and integrated landscaping, all combine to make the water treatment plant an innovative, model centre.

Construction phases, Vallès Occidental WTP (Vacarisses, Spain)

Phot

o: M

ònic

a D

o-al

lo

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Page 13: Sustainability Report 2010

Report parameters

3.1 Report outline This is the HERA Group’s third, bi-annual sustainability report with the figures for the years ending December 31st 2009 and 2010.

HERA Group

Parent companyHERA Holding Habitat, Ecología y Restauración Ambiental S.L.

SpainALANSU S.L.ALANSU Asturias Medioambiente S.L.

ALANSU Galicia S.L.

Alquimia Selecta S.L.

Central de Valorització de Sòls S.L.U.

Coll Cardús Gas S.L.

HERA AMASA S.A.

HERA Ener-G S.L.

HERA Iberoamericana S.A.

HERA Plasco S.L.

HERA Plasma S.L.

INDUGARBI S.L.

INDUGARBI NFU’S S.L.

INDUGARBI RCD’S S.A.

INDURECO S.L.

Medioil Levante S.L.

Óxidos Recumet S.L.

TRATESA Tractament Tècnic d’Escombraries S.A.

The information about subsidiar-ies is based mainly on dominant percentages and effective control criteria. This report also includes the new activities the Group started between late 2008 and late 2010.

The sustainability report has been posted on the www.heraholding.com/memoria website for consultation by the general public. It includes a questionnaire to let readers voice their opinions.

3.2 Report scopeThis report complies with GRI (Global Reporting Initiative or G3 as it is also known) guidelines for sustainability re-ports. Amongst other transparency-based approaches and principles, the Guide specifies the materiality of contents: “The information in the report should cover those topics and indicators that reflect the organization’s significant economic, environmental and social impacts and those that might substantially affect stakeholders’ assessments and decisions”.

This sustainability report, the HERA Group’s third, contin-ues to stress the importance of data collection and the consolidation of procedures in order to pursue the process in coming years. The experience acquired has enabled the team responsible for coordinating the report, in conjunc-tion with the management and those in charge of each

area, to enlarge upon the scope of the report. This edition also places particular emphasis on environmental indica-tors – the type deemed to be most important due to the industry the Group belongs to – and exceeds the stand-ards stipulated in the GRI application level adopted (C).

An external audit of the previous edition of this report was conducted by AENOR. However, in order to comply with the cost-cutting guidelines imposed by the Group’s management it was decided not to audit the present edi-tion because the methodology and data sources were the same as in previous periods.

The report includes the Group’s operations conducted in Spain, Latin America and Europe by the following companies:

InternationalAG Ambiental Argentina S.A.

BKE Biogas Klein Eichholz GmbH

CONPOREC S.A.S.

HERA Ailinco S.A.

HERA Ambiental LTDA

HERA Argentina S.A.

HERA Brasil Industria e Comercio LTDA

HERA BIO BIO S.A.

HERA Chile S.A.

HERA Colombia S.A.

HERA Ecobio S.A.

HERA France S.A.S

HERA Sul LTDA

HERA Ucrania S.A.

HERA Zárate Campana S.A.

Iberoamericana de Medioambiente S.A.

México de Servicios Medioambientales S.A. (MESEME)

Plasco Energy Group Inc

Schwarting Biosystem GmbH

Técnicas Avanzadas Medioambientales (TEAVME)

UTE Aragonesa de Obras Civiles S.L. y TRATESA Tractament Tècnic d’Escombraries S.A.

UTE BIOVAL | UTE HERA AMASA S.A., Biogás Fuel Cell S.A. y Borealia Ingeniería S.L.

UTE Biogás Lorca | UTE Ener-G Natural Power Limited, HERA Ener-G S.L. y HERA AMASA S.A.

UTE CTR | Vallès, Centre de Tractament de Residus del Vallès Occidental | UTE HERA AMASA S.A., FCC S.A. y URBASER S.A.

UTE Valloro | UTE SUFI S.A. y HERA Amasa S.A.

3. Report parameters

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Page 14: Sustainability Report 2010

HERA Group profile

HERA HOLDING, Hábitat, Ecología y Restauración Ambiental, S.L. is the head of a group of companies that provide integrated environmental solutions for responsible waste man-agement, and that operate and supply waste recycling and treatment plants.

The Group is now well experienced in waste management and water treat-ment, as demonstrated by its portfolio of more than 6000 Spanish and inter-national customers. This experience together with its great dedication to innovation and the development

of in-house technologies, plus its commitment to managing each type of waste so as to ensure maximumrecovery of materials, renewable energy, clean water and space, all enable the Group to continue devel-oping its environmental expertise.

The Group’s activities Unlike the Sustainability Report, the Group’s internal structure consists of four business units: waste to resources, clean technologies, environmental services and public services. However, it is more appropriate and useful for the information in this report to be organised to give priority to environmental considerations. As a result, the activities described in the three editions of this report have been organised according to the way each type of waste is managed or recycled.

The following pages detail the activities with environmental indicators (specified later) that HERA has carried out in this period. Activities and new facilities that were not mentioned in the previous report are marked in a different colour, because these plants began operating between late 2008 and late 2010. In Spain, the Pujalt controlled landfill (CL) started operat-ing in late 2008 as did the steelworks dust recovery activities. In Latin America, in this period, two waste treatment plants (WTP) began operating in Brazil.

Relandscaping - Pujalt CL (Spain)

14

Page 15: Sustainability Report 2010

HERA Group profile

RECOVERY ACTIVITIES

From waste to materials/renewable energy

Mechanical and biological treatment (MBT)

Generation of biogas by anaerobic digestion of organic matter

Recovery of paints and solvents

Recovery of precious metals

Recovery of steelworks dust (Recumet system)

Recovery of construction and demolition waste

Recycling of old tyres

Technologies the Group has developed:

Syngas and vitrified residue produced by plasma gasi-»fication and other types of gasification

Sludge recovery »

From wastewater to clean water

Treatment of leachates (wastewater generated by waste management)

Industrial and municipal wastewater treatment

From emissions to renewable energy

Biogas capture and recovery

Energy recovery»Conversion into natural biogas biofuel»

From contaminated land to usable space

Advanced soil remediation technology

DISPOSAL ACTIVITIES

Controlled landfills (CL) for hazardous and non-hazard-ous waste

Spain»Latin America»

Disposal of hazardous waste

LOGISTICS

Waste transfer plants

These activities are divided internally into four business units:

The Group’s activities are summarised below with details of the main environmental pressures at the end of each section.

Waste to resource

Development, construction and operating of plants producing raw materials and/or energy from any

type of waste.

UN

Clean technologies

Incorporation and development of cutting-edge, hybrid technologies

in the environmental field.

UN

Public services

Public-sector contracts and concessions related to the

environment.

UN

Environmental services

Management of waste, wastewater and contaminated soil for industrial

customers.

UN

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Page 16: Sustainability Report 2010

Recovery activities | From waste to materials/renewable energy

4.1 Recovery activities

4.1.1 From waste to materials/renewable energy

Veo los monumentosde antigua piedra rota,

pero si tocola cicatriz de piedra

tu cuerpo me responde,mis dedos reconocen

de pronto, estremecidos,tu caliente dulzura.

La Tierra, Pablo Neruda

Generating biogas by anaerobic digestion of organic matter Number of plants built 3 0 0Total capacity of plants built and operated (t/yr) 87578 22779 24030Output:

kWh of renewable electricity produced and sold 8738850 7644615 8098430kWh of heat produced 3493327 3376526 2723481Digestate generated for agriculture (t/yr) 24578 22779 24030Recovery of paints and solvents

Tonnes of incoming waste treated 3958 3458 3525Output of materials (t):

Paints and solvents recycled 1274 826 599Paints and solvents used for energy recovery 2444 2370 2735Recovery of precious metals

Tonnes of incoming waste 606 470 245Output of materials (t):

Recovered silver 2.61 4.22 3.59Recovered PET 250 23 21CDW recovery

Tonnes of incoming CDW 4700 10628 7176Output of materials (t):

Recovered aggregates 4332 9783 6354

Recovered iron 28 55 22Recovered cardboard 1 6 23Recovered plastic 3 8 32Recovered wood 11 120 196Recovered hazardous waste 0 0 0CL residue 326 656 551Old tyre recyling

Tonnes of incoming old tyres 1872 2843 3424

Output of materials (t): NA* 0 0

Inner tubes 11 25

Tracks 0 12

Shells 25 81

Dust 0 147

Aggregate 68 794

Ferrous 125 378

Textile 104 349* This activity began in 2008 and that year only collection was carried out.* NB. This information includes both the biogas energy recovery carried out at the Group’s own facilities (landfills and biomethanisation plants) and the biogas capture and

recovery services that the Group provides at its customers’ controlled landfills.

16

Page 17: Sustainability Report 2010

Recovery activities | From waste to materials/renewable energy

The Group always tries to use the fractioning, sorting and recovery processes best for each type of waste. As a result, since 2003 it has been building mechanical and biologi-cal treatment plants for recycling materials and recovering bio-energy. In that same year, the Group also pioneered the development of automatic sorting plants by automat-ing the sorting facilities for lightweight packaging at Gavà (Selectives Metropolitanas) where sorting had been mainly manual until then.

In July 2006, the Valloro temporary consortium, in which HERA has a 50% stake, was awarded the tender held by the Consorci per a la Gestió dels Residus del Vallès Ori-ental for the enlargement of the anaerobic digestion process and the capacity of the composting plant at the Vallès Oriental regional waste treatment plant in Granollers. The contract entails the construction of a mechanical and biological treatment plant for processing the organic fraction of municipal waste (OFMW) using a low-solid (wet), anaerobic digestion system that produces biogas for use as a renewable energy. The plant’s process-ing capacity is 45000t/yr. Construction was completed in November 2009 and in 2010 the plant began to operate with no load and then loaded prior to conducting its war-ranty tests. Delivery of the plant is envisaged in 2011. The final budget is €29million.

In February 2007, the CTR Vallès Occidental consortium led by HERA with a 60% stake, was awarded the ten-der held by the Consorci de Residus del Vallès Occidental for building and operating the Vallès Occidental Waste Treatment Plant in Coll Cardús (Barcelona), expect-ed to have a total turnover during the 15-year conces-sion of more than €400million and investment of some €90million. The plant’s rated capacity is 245000t/yr of the non-organic fraction of municipal waste using cutting-edge waste sorting and recovery systems. In 2009 most of the civil engineering was completed and equipment

began to be installed, and in the last quarter of 2010, the loaded plant was tested. However, because this plant began operating in 2011 (see the interview in section 2.4 for further details), the respective indicators are not given in this report.

In 2010 HERA bought the Conporec technology patent, a form of mechanical and biological processing for sol-id municipal waste (SMW) developed in Canada. The resulting compost is suitable for agricultural use. Three plants currently operate with this technology in the world: in Canada, the USA and Australia, and HERA is building another in Tournan en Brie, France able to handle 65000t/yr of SMW. This plant required investment of €20 million and completion is scheduled for 2012.

Generating biogas by anaerobic digestion of organic matter

Schwarting Biosystem GmbH (SBS) is the Group’s company in Germany specialised in the engineering and construc-tion of biomethane plants fed by sludge from municipal water treatment plants and by farming and food waste.

The Klein Eichholz GmbH (Berlin) biogas plant that HERA built in 2006 handles 35 000t/yr of agricultural waste and has enabled the Group to gain experience in pre-processing, processing and post-processing this type of waste pursuant to the provisions of Regulations 1069/2009. In addition to specifying the class 1 animal by-products and NER waste that must be incinerated, these regulations also contemplate the use of compost-ing and/or bio-methanisation to treat class 2 and class 3 waste. The digestate this plant produces is used as an agricultural bio-fertiliser, pursuant to Appendix II of the German Act BioAbfV dated September 21 1998. The heat expended by cogeneration is used in the waste neutralisation process.

HERA has its own heavy-duty anaerobic digestion technology that processes the sludge from municipal water treatment plants with a faster turnaround time than conventional technology. This enables a larger volume of waste to be processed in a very small space and, therefore, more renewable electricity – 15% more – to be produced from each tonne of incoming waste.

In the course of these two years, this activity has shifted from building this type of facility to focussing solely on the most efficient detailed engineering best suited to the needs of each customer, always establishing close ties to the local companies in charge of construction.

In this respect, engineering began in 2010 on a project

Comporec technology enables 0.6t of mate-rial to be recovered from each tonne of solid municipal waste, leaving just 0.4t of dry, non-organic residue to be disposed of by gasifica-tion or in a controlled landfill.

Mechanical treatment - Vallès Occidental WTP (Vacarisses, Spain)

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Recovery activities | From waste to materials/renewable energy

in Ulsan (Korea) with a processing ca-pacity of 100t/day of organic kitchen waste. Because the waste was very liquid, with a dry content of just 5%, i.e. very similar to water treatment plant sludge, the best technology for this type of waste was a heavy-duty digester. Investment in this project amounts to €1.1million in addition to the civil engineering.

The Group also builds biomethanisa-tion plants for processing the organic fraction of municipal waste (OFMW). See the previous section entitled ‘Me-chanical and biological treatment’.

Recovery of paints and solvents

HERA has a process for the recovery of car industry paint and solvents (both hazardous waste) which is unique in Europe: once recycled, the materials are returned to the customer to be re-used or sold on the market as a new product.

From 2007 onwards the use of non-recyclable solvents and paints in the manufacture of fuel for cement works has made this activity more efficient.

Recovery of precious metals

The main activity of this plant in Cantabria is the recovery of silver and PET plastic from photographic plates and liquids (hazardous waste). It can process 1 tonne of x-rays per day. The reduction in the quantities recovered is due to the decline in the number of x-rays handled and the shift towards material with lower sil-ver and PET contents.

Recovery of steelworks

In this period, Recumet technology began to be used to recover steel-works dust. This technology increases the zinc content of the exhaust fumes from the smelting gas scrubbing sys-tems in electric arc steelworks (steel-works dust) and transforms it into material of use to the zinc manufac-turing industry.

This zinc enrichment is achieved by feeding the electric arc furnace with self-reducing briquettes made from steelworks dust, a reducing agent and an agglomerate. Upon contact with the pool of smelted steel, the oxides in the briquettes are reduced and segregated. The iron and slag material flow into the pool of smelt-ed steel and the volatiles enter the process gas stream where they oxi-dise. As a result, depending on the type of scrap metal (which affects the composition of the steelworks dust generated during smelting) and the number of briquettes in the feed-stock, the zinc content of the dust obtained varies. The system can be adjusted so that the zinc content of the output makes it suitable for use by the zinc industry.

This process has several advantages: less material needs to be transported, a high percentage of the dust’s iron content is reclaimed as steel, and CO2

emissions are reduced.

HERA currently has a plant installed in the Nervacero steelworks (Celsa Group) which handles all the dust generated by steelworks (10000t/yr), resulting in an output of some 7500t/yr of enriched material.

The environmental indicators of this activity are not listed in this edition of the report.

Recovery of construction and demolition waste

The construction industry consumes large amounts of raw materials and generates a great deal of demolition rubble and rejects. According to the 2007-15 PNIR (Spanish Integrated Waste Scheme), Navarre produced 459 685t of construction and demo-lition waste in 2008.

The Group’s CDW recovery and recy-cling plant in Navarre began operat-ing in 2007. It features several auto-matic and manual processes and can separate and sort up to 300 000t/yr of recyclable or re-usable materials. The recovery rate is 98.5% and these materials are used in the restoration of run-down areas and the construc-tion of public works.

In February 2008, this plant started to recycle hazardous waste such as aerosols, paint cans, etc.

Recycling of old tyres

In January 2008 the Group began the collection, shipment and recycling of old tyres in northern Spain.

In 2009 the processing plant was built in Navarre and that year collection was organised, focussing efforts on the organisation and finishing touch-es in order to start recycling old tyres in 2010. The main output of this plant are: pellets and dust (65%) which are used in artificial-turf football pitches, sports area flooring, playgrounds, re-treading and insulation for buildings and, particularly, in green asphalt; textiles (17%) used in energy recov-ery and/or landfill disposal; and metal (18%) sold to foundries.

Since February 2011 the plant has been work-ing round the clock and in three months it has sold the equivalent of 2010’s entire pellet production.

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Recovery activities | From waste to materials/renewable energy

Technologies developed by the Group

Plasma gasification

Working in conjunction with the Plasco Energy Group, HERA has developed an alternative solution for treating non-recyclable municipal and industrial waste that can currently only be incinerated or sent to a landfill. This in-novative technology is plasma gasification. It produces vit-rified residue and first-rate, stable syngas suitable for use in internal combustion engines. This is the most efficient, clean and scalable technology available for processing waste that cannot otherwise be recycled.

Plasma gasification enables the complete, atomic recy-cling of waste into just two products: 90% of its weight is converted into syngas and the other 10% into non-leach vitrified material that can be used to make insulation such as rockwool, to build road foundations and to pro-duce raw materials for making cement. Syngas has many applications including the production of methanol and hy-drogen and even thermal or electrical energy since it is in itself a gaseous fuel.

In the 2009-10 period, the Group’s pilot plasma plant in Castellgalí was used to extend the use of the plasma proc-ess to recycling other materials.

A series of operative campaigns were carried out to deter-mine the optimum parameters for processing the follow-ing materials:

Dry sludge1. from wastewater treatment plants.

Dry sludge with high calcium carbonate content from 2.paper mills.

Fluff3. from crushed cars.

Aqueous solutions of 4. glycerine (by-product of the bio-diesel process). These can be used with the syngas generated by plasma gasification to make the methanol needed to manufacture biodiesel, thereby closing the methanol manufacture and re-use cycle. This lightens bi-odiesel’s environmental rucksack, because at the present time almost all the methanol produced for industrial use comes from reforming natural gas or another fossil fuel.Recycling the glycerine obtained as new methanol means that the consumption of fossil fuel in biodiesel production is reduced to zero. This is possible thanks to the plasma gasification process.

Biomass5. . Splinters of wood species highly likely to produce extremely high levels of tar. Due to the high temperatures inside the reactor, the plasma gasifica-tion process has proven itself to be the best method for recovering this sort of biomass.

In the case of materials whose carbon content is more 6.than 50% of their dry weight the possibility of chang-ing the operative parameters has also been analysed at length with a view to achieving syngas with the lowest possible N2 content. From the viewpoint of energy, the higher the N2 content of the syngas, the lower its LCV (lower calorific value). The results obtained show that

the plasma gasification process can produce extremely high quality syngas, with an LCV of more than 10Mj/Ncu.m. It must be said that syngas is a suitable feedstock for an internal combustion engine when its LCV falls to between 4.3 and 5.2 Mj/Ncu.m. These values make it possible to determine the extent to which the plasma process, thanks to its distinguishing characteristics, can enhance the quality of the gas produced.

In addition, in 2009 and 2010, technicians and engineers from the Castellgalí technology development group trav-elled to Canada to assist their Canadian colleagues in operating, fine-tuning and adjusting the Trail Road pilot plant in Ottawa (able to process 30000t/yr SMW).

Using syngas as feedstock for electricity generators produces almost twice as much as the simple direct combustion of waste or biomass.

Other types of gasification

In response to the challenge of replacing imported and fos-sil fuels by local and renewable fuels, in mid 2008 studies began into the eco-efficient use of alternative sources such as biomass. In 2009, a pilot plant was built with a view to fine-tuning several gasification processes such as:

Moving bed. Designed to cater for small gasification 1.needs. Maximum capacity 1MWe (electric), i.e. about 3 MWt (heat). These modular units can be installed in parallel making it relatively easy to implement 2 MWe projects. In practice, by installing several of these reac-tors, projects of up to 4 MWe are feasible.

Pilot plasma plant (Castellgalí, Spain)

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Recovery activities | From waste to materials/renewable energy

For higher demands (9 – 20 MWe) horizontal gasi-2.fication plants are the most appropriate – in con-junction with and optimised by the plasma process described in the previous section. For this reason operating campaigns were carried out with differ-ent biomasses to maximise the electricity generated. In large plants (of about 20 MWe), net electricity production of 1.25 MWhe per tonne of processed biomass is possible (with an LCV of 3 800 kcal/kg).

Low-speed, dense fluidised bed. This proc-3.ess caters specifically for intermediate power re-quirements that are not financially feasible with the two gasification plants described above. The operating principle is based on a design that ena-bles adequate gasification with minimal air thanks to its high-capacity heat exchange system. This type ca-ters for power requirements ranging from 5 MWe to 9 MWe.

R&D&I

In this respect the CDTI gave a grant in April 2009 for a project to enhance and optimise biomass gasification with cogeneration, i.e. once most of the syngas energy has been used to generate electricity in the engines, the ex-haust fumes are used whilst still hot enough (about 450º - 470º C) to provide the thermal energy required by other processes via a hot water or low-pressure steam circuit.

The aim of this project is to measure the different lev-els of performance and study how to maximise them, in order to use the results as the design baseplate for the construction of dedicated compact units to cover part or all of the electrical and thermal energy requirements in instances where the combined demand can be certified (e.g. in units for use in hospital complexes), thereby en-couraging the use of biomass as a substitute for conven-tional fuels. The project will end in October 2011.

Sludge recovery

From sludge to materials

Since 2002, HERA has been carrying out industrial-scale tests at Vacarisses, a pilot plant able to deal with 30 000t/yr of WWTP sludge using Alximix technology: a combina-tion of mechanical heat drying processes and physical and chemical stabilisation that transforms sludge into a car-bon-neutral, dry material in the form of dust. This reduces the mass of the original sludge by 50% without produc-ing any type of residue or effluent, and ensures minimal power and ammoniac emissions in compliance with the strictest thresholds (50 mg/Ncu.m).

This neutral material can be used as rawmix to manufac-ture cement with less CaCO3, energy and CO2 emissions. It can also be used in road foundations, as a filler for as-phalt, in tile manufacturing, etc.

Aerial view Alximiz Sludge Recovery Plant (Vacarisses, Spain)

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The CENIT Scheme confirmed the tech-nological validity of this neutral material as a component of Portland cement rawmix without affecting the process, regardless of the rawmix proportion and stream.

Services provided

Mechanical and biological treatment

Separation and recovery of the non-organic fraction of municipal waste.

Generation of biogas by anaerobic digestion of organic matter

Engineering, construction and maintenance of bi-omethane plants to process sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants and food and agriculture waste, generating renewable energy and biofertiliser.

Recovery of paint and solvents

Re-use of solvents.

Recycling and manufacture of paints and coatings from waste paints.

Manufacture of fuel for cement works.

Recovery of precious metals

Recovery of silver from photography fluids and analogi-cal X-rays.

Recovery of PET from analogical and digital X-rays.

Recovery of steelworks dust

Use of Recumet technology to recover steelworks dust.

Recovery of construction and demolition waste (CDW)

CDW sorting, processing and treatment.

Recycling of old tyres

Transportation and recycling of old tyres.

To confirm its utility as rawmix in the manufacture of Port-land cement, an industrial test and production scheme was carried out in cement works as part of the CENIT (Spanish Consortia for Strategic Technical Research) Sosta-gua project. The aim of this scheme is to acquire new knowledge of use when creating new products, processes or services, thereby helping to improve the technological standing of Spanish manufacturing.

From sludge to renewable energy

This activity using the Group’s own high-performance, biomethanisation technology to treat sludge from mu-nicipal water treatment plants and generate biogas, was explained in the previous section ‘Generation of biogas by anaerobic digestion of organic matter’.

Recovery activities | From waste to materials/renewable energy

Neutral product

Sludge treatment plant. Alximix technology (Vacarisses, Spain)

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Main environmental pressures Units *

Raw materials consumed:

Phosphoric acid, additives, filler pigments, resins» 9.67 5.60 6.88 t C

Calcium chloride» 8.5 4.5 3.4 t E

Borax» 0.02 0.09 0.04 t M

Sodium carbonate» 0.14 0.24 0.08 t M

Sodium nitrate» 0.41 0.18 0.08 t M

Sodium sulphide» 0.59 0.34 0.18 t M

Fixative reagent» 3955 11410 1440 l M

Iron chloride 40%» 4600 2550 7700 l M

Soda flakes» 0.43 0.82 0.43 t M

Emissions:

Particles» 0 0.03 0.01 t M

CO» 0.012 0.073 0.037 t M

SO» 2 0 0.076 0.029 t M

NOX» 0.019 0.083 0.048 t M

Amount of mains electricity bought 251110 185077 165104 kWh M

Mains water consumption 3774 2235 1309 cu.m. C

Diesel oil consumption 31989 23261 19994 l C

Propane consumption 3.30 2.66 1.19 t M

Total amount of waste generated

Water and solvent taken to be recovered» 570 461 368 t E

CDW residue» 326 656 551 t M

Use of in-house subproducts (dewatering sludge) 139.19 62 52.93 t C

*Estimated (E), Measured (M) or Calculated (C)

Type of customer

Mechanical and biological treatments (MBT) Public sector.

Generation of biogas by anaerobic digestion of organic matter

Municipal wastewater treatment plants, customers with food or farming waste.

Paint and solvent recoveryCar, pharmaceutical and metallurgical industries, vehicle repair workshops.

Recovery of precious metalsGraphic arts, hospitals, friendly societies, photo laboratories, scrap yards, intermediate waste handlers, and final producers of non-photochemical waste.

Recovery of steelworks dust Zinc electrolyte producers and intermediaries in this industry.

Recycling of construction and demolition waste Construction industry .

Recycling of old tyresEstablishments selling tyres, official vehicle scrap yards, vehicle repair workshops, ecological disposal points, etc.

Target markets

Spain

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Recovery activities | From waste to materials/renewable energy

Operating/Service

Construction

Operating/Service & construction

Comments about the main environmental pressures

Paint and solvent recovery has reduced the consump-tion of water from external sources by re-using cooling tower water to cool both solvent distillation and the mills used in paint recycling. Ninety per cent of distillation wastewater and 70% of distillation sludge are recovered by an external waste handler, 20% is used in paint recy-cling and 10% is re-used in the solvent distillation process itself. Energy consumption has been drastically reduced by using condensers.

Silver recovered from analogical x-rays

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Recovery activities | From wastewater to clean water

4.1.2 From wastewater to clean water

Y la canción del aguaes una cosa eterna.

Es la savia entrañableque madura los campos.

Es sangre de poetasque dejaron sus almas

perderse en los senderosde la Naturaleza.

Mañana, Federico García Lorca

Leachate treatment

It is already 15 years since the Group built its first reverse osmosis plant at the Coll Cardús controlled landfill. These facilities – pioneers at that time – took the processing of this type of waste even further by transforming leachate with high levels of non-biodegradable organic elements, salinity, nitrogen, AOX and other inhibiting materials into clean water.

This experience has enabled the Group to offer its custom-ers the most suitable membrane technology depending on the origin of the wastewater (CL, ecoparks, compost-ing plants, etc) and also to develop integrated technolo-gies to make this treatment more efficient by adapting it with innovative techniques.

Treatment of leachates (wastewater generated by waste management) Spain

Volume of leachate treated (cu.m.) 253340 259104 283649Volume of permeate generated and re-used (cu.m.) 171453 165024 192381

Latin AmericaVolume of leachate treated with reverse osmosis (cu.m.) 36300 41000 44500Volume of leachate treated using biological, physical and chemical means (cu.m.)

521628 521838 404233

Treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaterSpain

Volume of treated water (cu.m.) 1002072 956762 1002214* NB. These figures include water treatment services provided for customers and the management of leachates produced by the Group’s controlled landfills.

These activities have been globalised thanks to the first contracts obtained in Brazil for 2011

Riu Sec WWTP (Sabadell, Spain)

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Recovery activities | From wastewater to clean water

Industrial and municipal wastewater treatment

Industrial and municipal wastewater

Re-use, in the sense of the stage after treatment, is a cornerstone of HERA’s strategy. Mention must be made of the growing number of membrane bioreactor module (MRB) applications being implemented – HERA has more than 40 operative in different types of facilities (municipal, industrial, vineyards, leachates, pilot plants...). In particular, the Riu Sec WWTP serving the city of Sabadell can handle 35000 cu.m./day: one of the largest MRBs in Europe. Fitting bioreactors with membrane filter systems not only reduces space requirements by one third in compari-son with a conventional system but also produces treated water of excel-lent quality, suitable for re-use pursu-ant to Royal Decree 1620/2007 dd. December 7th.

In addition to MBR technology, HERA has other technologies spanning the widest possible spectrum of the envi-ronmental issues arising from waste-water treatment: IFAS, anaerobic di-gestion of highly contaminated water, ultrafiltering, etc.

The final step towards maximum re-source recovery was the incorporation of pressurised ultrafiltering technolo-gy for services, re-use and potabilisa-tion that eliminate a high percentage of microorganisms with low mainte-nance costs.

The second cornerstone of the HERA Group’s strategy is their specialisation in water treatment in small towns with 30 to 1000 inhabitants, camp-

sites, rural hotels, ski resorts, etc, by means of compact Bioclere® and AquaPaq® plants.

And finally, the Group’s third key activity is the treatment of sludgegenerated by wastewater treatment by either dewatering during the treat-ment process or employing in-house sludge recovery technologies:

Production of biogas and bio-fertilisers by means of high-per-formance anaerobic digestion (see section 3.1.1).

Production of neutral material by means of the sludge recovery tech-nology developed by HERA (see section 3.1.1).

Mobile sludge dewatering plant for occasional needs.

After accumulating technologies and expertise at more than 50 water treat-ment plants in Spain, the Group is now starting to make inroads into other markets with great potential. In France, as a result of the French waste treatment programme designed to encourage the renovation of water treatment plants, HERA plans to take part in tenders for the construction of municipal water treatment plants in cooperation with French companies. In Brazil and South America in gener-al, the Group is currently applying its experience in leachate processing to deal with this new problem in these developing countries

In-house laboratory

The wastewater treatment department also has a laboratory to analyse the physical and chemical parameters of industrial and municipal wastewater, leachates, waste and contaminated soil pursuant to standardised test methods using duly calibrated equip-ment and highly qualified staff. To en-sure the quality and technical reliability, the laboratory has an in-house system based on ISO 17025. The accuracy of analyses is ensured by ENAC-certified comparative calibrations organised by CALITAX-LABAQUA. Work is cur-rently under way to obtain ISO 9001 certification.

R&D&I

A consortium consisting of companies, universities and research centres was created in 2008 to carry out a multidis-ciplinary project known by the Span-ish acronym CENIT Demeter (Devel-opment of viticulture and oenologist strategies and methods to combat global warming, and the applica-tion of new, performance-enhancing technologies). This four-year project is designed to diagnose the effects of climate change on grape vines and pinpoint remedial measures. Knowing that climate change is associated with less available water, HERA has partici-pated by contributing the water re-use and treatment experience gained from its study of technologies and solutions in pilot plants in the wine industry.

The following figures concern not only the provision of wastewater treatment services for customers but also the treatment of leachates aris-ing from the Group’s controlled land-fills (see the section Disposal/elimina-tion Activities).

Reverse osmosis wastewater treatment plant (Vacarisses, Spain)

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Recovery activities | From wastewater to clean water

Services provided

Leachate treatment

Construction and operation of treatment plants employing membrane separation technology (reverse osmosis and multi-mem-brane systems) tailored to suit each CL, ecopark, composting plant, etc.Rental of mobile reverse osmosis units.

Industrial and municipal wastewater treatment

Construction and operating of wastewater treatment plants and compact plants.Construction and operating of puri-fication plants.Construction and operating of sludge recovery plants.

Integrated management of waste-water treatment plants:

Engineering management.»Day-to-day running of the treat-»ment plant.Preventive and remedial maintenance.»Control of analyses.»Waste treatment (sludge, oils and »grease, sieved, filtered, etc...) in-cluding shipment and treatment at the Group’s own or external treatment facilities according to the type of waste.Supply of reagents.»

On-site dewatering of wastewa-ter treatment sludge by means of mobile, containerised centrifuge units shipped to site by company’s own drivetrain.Dismantling of industrial plants.

Type of customer

Plants built and operated:

Lechate treatment» Waste management industry.

Industrial and municipal wastewater »treatment

MunicipalCustomers belonging to the integrated water cycle (AGBAR, etc)Construction companies specialised in water projects.

IndustrialWine industry, chemical industry, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, foods, real estate/construction.

Target markets

Main environmental pressures Units *

Treatment of leachates (wastewater generated by waste management)

Plants in operation 5 4 4 M

Raw materials consumed

Reagents» 1632 1541 1559 t M

Quicklime» 24451 18912 9070 t M

Amount of electricity generated on-site used for own consumption 5210482 6550907 6942070 kWh C

Amount of electricity bought from the grid 921740 668410 1216230 kWh M

Treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater

Number of treatment plants built 17 7 4 M

Number of treatment plants in operation 35 29 31 M

Volume of treated water released into sewer network 992472 cu.m. M

Volume of treated water 1002072 956762 1002214 cu.m. M

Raw materials consumed (reagents) 2704 1889 2069 t M

Sludge generated 7011 5974 6306 t M

*Estimated (E), Measured (M) or Calculated (C)

Environmental advisory serviceEnvironmental assessment of activi-ties pursuant to Act 20/2009 dd December 4 governing the environ-mental control and prevention of activities.Environmental sustainability report for town planning schemes: Act 6/2009 dd April 28 governing the environmental assessment of plans and programmes.Deforestation schemes: Decree 268/1996 governing the periodic and selective felling of trees in the zone of influence of overhead elec-tricity cables to protect such instal-lations and prevent forest fires. Inventories of effluents and waste and minimisation studies.Environmental Impact Studies, etc.

Spain

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Recovery activities | From wastewater to clean water

In 2009, of the 5974t of sludge resulting from industrialand municipal wastewater treatment, 3421t were disposed of in the Group’s class 2 CL in Coll Cardús and 2553t were divided amongst the recovery of cement works material, composting and physical and chemical treatment.

In 2010, of the 6306t of sludge resulting from indus-trial and municipal wastewater treatment, 4 073t were disposed of in the Group’s class 2 CL in Coll Cardús and 2233t were divided amongst the recovery of cement works material, composting and physical and chemical treatment.

Main environmental pressures

To improve the general stability of the Coll Cardús CL, it was decided to increase extraction by pumping (in addi-tion to by gravity) resulting in the plant’s higher volumes of processed leachate and higher electricity consumption. When the Vacarisses Waste Treatment Plant was built in 2008, work began on transferring and adapting the treat-ment plant handling the leachate produced by the landfill. Work was completed in early 2010. This transfer was also a technological improvement that enhanced the amount and quality of the processed leachate. The permeate gen-erated by treating the leachate with reverse osmosis is re-used to irrigate the nursery at the plant, to water the roads to prevent dust being raised by lorries, and to sta-bilise organic matter from the Vallés Occidental WTP. To reduce the amount of concentrate generated by osmosis, two evaporators have been installed basically to extract part of the water content and thereby reduce the amount of lime required per tonne of neutralised/stabilised con-centrate.

Both the SMW controlled landfill and the hazardous waste treatment plant in Chile use physical and chemi-cal processes and reverse osmosis technology to treat leachates, whilst the hazardous waste treatment plant in Argentina and the hazardous and non-hazardous waste treatment plant in Colombia use biological, physical and chemical treatment to process leachates. The sludge and concentrate produced by the Group’s facilities in Latin America are dewatered and fed into one of their own haz-ardous waste cells.

Operating/Service

Construction

Operating/Service & construction

Doña Juana landfill wastewater treatment plant (Colombia)

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Recovery activities | From emissions to renewable energy

4.1.3 From emissions to renewable energy

...Parfum de l’herbe qui s’emperle

À la brume des soirs d’été ; Chanson éclatante du merle,

Qui bat de l’aile en sa gaieté ;Parfum de toute la nature,

Fleur, arôme, ambroisie et miel, Chanson de toute créature, Qui parle de la terre au ciel.

De la terre au ciel, Arsène Houssaye (1815-1896)

Biogas capture and recovery

Energy recovery

The anaerobic digestion of the organ-ic matter deposited in controlled land-fills generates a significant volume of leachates and biogas emissions (more than 50% of which is methane plus CO2, both of which are compounds that contribute considerably to the greenhouse effect when released into the atmosphere). The main challenge was to capture and treat these emis-sions and leachates.

In order to recover the biogas cap-tured at controlled landfills, wastewa-ter treatment plants and biomethane plants, the Group has developed and implemented its own biogas capture and scrubbing system to condition it for use in electricity generating en-gines, turbines, fuel batteries, etc. This makes biogas a new renewable source of heat and electricity.

Total volume of biogas produced (cu.m.) 30829901 30313129 29311658

Energy uses:

Total renewable electricity sold to the grid (kWh/yr) 43868990 49623863 47245126

Number of cars running on NCCB* 19 10 9* NB. This information includes both the biogas energy recovery carried out at the Group’s own facilities (landfills and biomethanisation plants) and the biogas capture and

recovery services that the Group provides at its customers’ controlled landfills. * There is a petrol station at the Group’s Coll Cardús CL to provide biogas for the Group’s fleet of cars.

Integrated service model:

HERA captures and recov-ers the biogas generated by landfills. Their customers assume no risk or investment.

Flexible mechanisms in the Kyoto protocol: CDM and JI projects

The Group’s increasing desire to help reduce global warming, to-gether with its experience in biogas energy recovery and waste treat-ment led HERA to undertake two CDM projects to reduce CO2 equiv-alent emissions at the Fundo las Cruces controlled landfill (Chillán, Chile) and the Hasars controlled landfill (Guadalajara, Mexico). The

former is already being validated following its UN registration in Feb-ruary 2011. The latter has already begun its first confirmation and ex-pects the first CERs (certified emis-sion reductions) to be issued in the course of 2011.

HERA Ukraine offices

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Recovery activities | From emissions to renewable energy

The HERA Group has begun work on a joint implementa-tion (JI) project within the framework of the Kyoto pro-tocol with a view to obtaining a total reduction of about 3.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, Ukraine. The main activities in the project are the construction of the infrastructures needed for the extraction, capture, piping and use of the biogas energy in the landfills of Evpatoria (1.31 million t CO2e)and Feodosia (1.03 million t CO2e); and also the construc-tion of the new waste treatment plant in Alushta which will be able to handle 250000t/yr and, as in the previous cases, will capture the plant’s methane emissions thereby avoiding the emission of 1.36 million t CO2e. It is antici-pated that investment of some €31 million will be required for these projects.

The executive summaries for the three sites – Evpatoria, Feodosia and Alushta – are scheduled to be drawn up in 2011.

This joint implementation project will be the first of this type carried out in Ukraine by a Spanish company.

Conversion into Biogas Natural® biofuel

Work to make further progress continues. The Group uses existing biogas upgrading technologies and is developing

Services provided

Biogas capture and recovery

Modelling of controlled landfill biogas production

Design of biogas capture system.

Construction of key-turn electricity generating plants using combustion engines, turbines and batteries.

Operating and maintenance of these plants with own staff to optimise their production.

Target markets

Type of customer

Biogas energy recovery and capture Public and private controlled landfills, city councils.

Transformation into NCCB Controlled landfills, WWTPs, anaerobic digestion plants.

Transformation into NCCB

Design, construction and operating of NCCB biofuel plants.

its own for use in realms where natural gas is an option. In this respect the Group already has proven experience in conditioning biogas for use as a biofuel for vehicles (natu-ral, concentrated, compressed biogas, NCCB).

In addition to the plant situated in the Coll Cardús CL, capable of refuelling 35 vehicles a day, and the pilot plant built in Murcia in 2008, HERA has collaborated on the start-up of one of the world’s largest biogas scrubbing plants situated in Madrid.

Work has continued over the last two years on improving the efficiency and quality of Biogas Natural® and also on raising awareness of this biofuel internationally, particu-larly in Europe, by selling licences for this biofuel to local partners.

Biogas is a biofuel:

ITC/2877/2008, a Spanish act for the promotion of biofuels in Spain acknowledges biogas to be a biofuel.

The following information includes both the biogas ener-gy recovery that the Group carries out in its own facilities (landfills and biomethanisation plants) and the biogas cap-ture and recovery services that the Group provides at the controlled landfills owned by its customers.

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Recovery activities | From emissions to renewable energy

Main environmental pressures

Spain

Units *

Total consumption of electri-city generated by the plant

1395814 1182305 1527917 kWh C

Type and weight of emissions released into air (Coll Cardús CL)

CO» (ENGINE 1 - ENGINE 2 - ENGINE 3) 450.6 - 228.7 - 844.1 450.6 - 228.7 - 844.1 450.6 - 228.7 - 844.1 mg/Ncu.m. M

NOx» (ENGINE 1 - ENGINE 2 - ENGINE 3) 424.1 - 375 - 459.3 424.1 - 375 - 459.3 424.1 - 375 - 459.3 mg/Ncu.m. M

COVs (» ENGINE 1 - ENGINE2 - ENGINE 3) 929 - 1361 - 1302.3 929 - 1361 - 1302.3 929 - 1361 - 1302.3 mg/Ncu.m. M

Total number and volume of most significant accidental spills

None None None C

*Estimated (E), Measured (M) or Calculated (C)

Operating/Service

Construction

Operating/Service & construction

Comments about main environmental pressures The Coll Cardús CL owns the electricity cable that sup-plies the WTP that started operating in the last quarter of 2010. The electricity generated by the landfill biogas is sold to the WTP.

The 2008-10 CO, NOx and VOC emissions are the same because pursuant to the environmental licence, readings must be taken every three years. The following readings were taken by a company certified by the Spanish authori-ties in 2008.

The Hasars CDM Controlled landfill (Guadalajara, Mexico)

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Recovery activities | From contaminated soil to usable space

4.1.4 From contaminated soil to usable space

En este suelo habitan las estrellas En este cielo canta el agua de la imaginación

Más allá de las nubes que surgen de estas aguas y estos suelos nos sueñan los antepasados

Su espíritu -dicen- es la luna llena El silencio su corazón que late.

En este suelo habitan las estrellas,Elicura Chihuailaf - Poeta Chileno Mapuche

The accelerated growth of cities has forced the land use of areas originally declared to be industrial to be changed. This, in addition to Royal Decree 9/2005 dated January 4th (which makes soil remediation compulsory for certain industries) and Spain’s draft bill on Waste and Contamina-ted Soil (designed to minimise waste and reduce the ad-verse effects of waste generation and management), plus measures aimed at reducing the global impact of resource use and enhancing the effectiveness of this use, has made it necessary to delimit the responsibilities and costs asso-ciated with the potential sources of contamination to be found in soils and also, when applicable, to decontamina-te them effectively.

In response to these needs, the Group provides inte-grated soil remediation services ranging from detecting, specifying and assessing the risks of the problem, to proposing and implementing remedial actions using

Spain

Volume of decontaminated soil (cu.m.)* 908600 730400 715000Decontaminated soil (t) 413000 332000 325000

Soil decontaminated on site » 323000 280000 284000

Soil decontaminated off site» 90000 52000 41000

Volume of decontaminated water (cu.m.) 107000 83000 84000

Portugal

Volume of decontaminated soil (cu.m.)* NA 110000 110000

Decontaminated soil (t) NA 50000 50000

Soil decontaminated on site » NA 45000 32000

Soil decontaminated off site» NA 5000 4500

Volume of decontaminated water (cu.m.) NA 2000 8000* A factor of 2.2 was applied to convert tonnes into cu.m. of decontaminated soil.

the most suitable on-site (bioremediation, chemical oxi-dation, soil vacuum,...) and ad situ (thermal desorption, washing, landfarming,...) soil remediation techniques which, furthermore, comply with the requirements of the above-mentioned Royal Decree 9/2005 dated January 4th by avoiding the generation, transfer and disposal of waste in landfills.

The Group also provides solutions designed to minimise the impact of industrial accidents and the ensuing disper-sion of pollutants and thereby reduce any ensuing dama-ge and risks.

In the course of these two years, the Group has become a foremost soil remediation company in both Spain and Portugal, particularly in the industrial sector. The Group’s experience in Portugal has been its first step towards glo-balising this activity and it is currently submitting offers in Italy, Kuwait, France, Rumania and Bosnia.

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Recovery activities | From contaminated soil to usable space

R&D&I

In conjunction with CIEMAT (Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioam-bientales y Tecnológicas) and INIA (Insti-tuto Nacional de Investigación y Tecno-logía Agraria y Alimentaria), the Group has received a grant for research into the advanced remediation of slud-ge arising from scrubbing oil-pollu-ted soil. This grant was awarded by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Areas (Plan Na-cional de Investigación Científica, Desa-rrollo e Innovación Tecnológica 2008-2011, Programa Nacional de Proyectos de Desarrollo Experimental).

Services provided

Advanced soil remediation technology

Research, characterisation and decontamination of subsoil by on-site remediation using the Group’s own equipment for multiphase extraction, soil vacuum, pumping, double pumping, bio-remediation, chemical oxidation.

Target markets

Type of customers

Advanced soil remediation technologyOil industry, industrial sector, public authorities and property developers.

Excavation and off-site treatment.

Own machinery for applying the different remediation techniques.

Soil scrubbing, Sienes (Portugal)

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Recovery activities | From contaminated soil to usable space

Operating/Service

Construction

Operating/Service & construction

Main environmental pressures Units *

Diesel oil consumption per tonne of decontaminated soil

0.08 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.08 I/t M

Mains water consumption per tonne of decontaminated soil

0.19 0.15 0.15 0.19 0.16 cu.m./t M

Volume of re-used water per tonne of decontaminated soil

0.10 0.11 0.11 0.11 0.15 cu.m./t M

Electricity consumption per tonne of decontaminated soil

0.40 0.45 0.48 0.35 0.48 kWh/t M

*Estimated (E), Measured (M) or Calculated (C)

Spain Portugal

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Disposal/elimination activities

4.2 Disposal/elimination activities

Liebe Sonne, scheine wieder, Schein’ die düstern Wolken nieder!Komm mit deinem goldnen Strahl

Wieder über Berg und Tal!

Trockne ab auf allen WegenÜberall den alten Regen!

Liebe Sonne, lass dich sehn, Dass wir können spielen gehn!

Beim Regen, Hoffmann von Fallersleben

In SpainThe HERA Group was created with a view to restoring the environment and providing thorough final treatment for municipal and industrial waste, thereby avoiding the ad-verse environmental impacts caused by uncontrolled rub-bish tips. With this in mind, the construction and operation of controlled landfills have been one of the Group’s main final disposal activities, together with the development of innovative management practices and technologies.

The Coll Cardús controlled landfill, the HERA Group’s first plant built in 1983, handles non-hazardous industrial and municipal waste whilst minimising environmental im-pact and recovering as many resources as possible. Indica-tors and information about biogas energy recovery and treating the leachate produced are given in the chapters “From emissions to energy” and “From wastewater to clean water” respectively.

Spain

Hazardous and non-hazardous waste and SMW handled in CL and disposal (t) 790964 668509 632179

Latin America

Waste handled (t): 612626 643386 740467

SMW» 150338 126628 130389

Hazardous waste» 462288 516758 610078

The following steps are taken to mitigate the environmen-tal impact of controlled landfills:

The facility is fitted with four diffusers operating 24/7 that release a substance to capture odour molecules.

Since 2003 falconry has been used to control the seagulls at the landfill, i.e. falcons, natural predators, are used to keep them away.

The CL itself has a nursery of local vegetation for re-planting deteriorated areas to make the facilities blend in with their surroundings and recover areas already used.

When the Vallés Occidental WTP started operating in No-vember 2010, the SMW previously taken to the landfill was redirected to this plant to enable the recyclable elements this type of waste contains to be recovered. From then on-wards, the waste entering the Coll Cardús CL – consisting

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Disposal/elimination activities

Target markets

Type of customers

Spain (2010)

CL for SMW and non-hazardous waste »Public authorities, 1303 industrial companies and haulage contractors.

Population of 830000 in Vallès Oriental and Vallès Occidental.

Hazardous waste disposal» Metalworking and car industries and waste handlers.

Latin America (2010)

CL for SMW and hazardous waste»Population of 1 600 000 in areas near the CLs.

Some 400 industrial companies.

of bales of the final waste produced by the WTP and non-hazardous in-dustrial waste – was used to create the morphology authorised by the ACR. Work on the gradual closure of the landfill continues in conjunc-tion with the Geomodels joint re-search centre (an institute founded by the UPC, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya), UB (Universitat de Barcelona), DURSI (Departament de Universitat Recerca i Societat de la Información) under the auspices of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the IGME (Instituto Geológico Min-ero). This research will determine the most suitable methodology for filling the last phases of the disposal basin, whilst ensuring optimum sta-bility when closing and sealing the controlled landfill. In this respect the Group’s Ecoinnovation Department employs local, renewable materials to minimise the eco-footprint caused by covering and closing the CL.

Since 2004 and following the same criteria as at Coll Cardús, the Group has been operating its controlled landfill in Murcia which is author-ised to receive non-hazardous, mu-nicipal waste that has been treated beforehand but cannot be recov-ered, pursuant to Council Directive 1999/31/CE dated April 26th on waste disposal, making it mandatory to reduce the disposal of bio-degra-dable waste entering landfills.

In 2006, Vertedero Controlado de Alcañiz, a temporary consortium consisting of HERA and Aragonesa de Obras Civiles, was retained to de-sign, build and operate the controlled landfill handling 26500t/yr of solid municipal waste generated by the Agrupación Siete de Alcañiz (an area including Caspe, Bajo Martín, Andorra Sierra de Arcos, Bajo Aragón and Ma-tarraña). Because this municipal waste treatment plant is still at an early phase according to the recorded methane production figures, the production of renewable electricity from the biogas it generates is not envisaged.

In November 2008, work began on relandscaping the old Isidre mines in Pujalt (Anoia, Barcelona) by the controlled disposal of industrial and household waste. A total of 14 hec-tares are to be relandscaped. This will offset the negative environmen-tal impact caused when the topsoil originally covering the coal seams was removed, and will make the area blend in with its surroundings by recreating the original morphol-ogy and subsequently developing farming-based activities.

Alcañiz controlled landfill (Spain)

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Disposal/elimination activities

In June 2007 the Group built a new waste disposal plant in Cantabria. It can handle some 9000t/yr of waste from the metallurgy and car industries and provides hazardous waste stabilisation and the physical, chemical and biologi-cal treatment of industrial effluents.

In Latin America

Another challenge faced by the Group has been its ex-pansion into developing countries because the technol-ogy used in Europe must be tailored to their social and economic realities whilst still complying with the environ-mental specifications of industrialised countries. In this period, HERA has focussed on certain strategic countries, particularly Brazil.

In the case of Chile, the Group opted for organic growth, transferring the technology and management model that had been developed in Spain over more than twenty years. In 2002 it acquired and began to operate an SMW landfill whose customer portfolio has been gradually con-solidated over the last two years and now serves all the towns in the proximity of the plant. HERA handles 65% of the hazardous waste generated in the catchment area of this plant which started operating in 2006.

The growth strategy in Argentina was based on buyouts to take advantage of the 1998-99 cash flows. The year 2006 marked a turning point in the country’s economic recovery, enabling the hazardous waste treatment plant to operate in a more stable market once again. This facil-ity is currently being enlarged and features an incineration furnace, controlled landfill and the physical and chemical treatment of PCBs tailored to deal with the different types of hazardous waste produced.

On January 16th 2007 the Group’s Mondoñedo control-led landfill 35 km from Bogotá (Colombia) was inaugu-rated. It handles the SMW from more than 40 towns in the area, the equivalent of some 900t/day.

The Group has been active in Brazil since September 2009 when it opened an SMW treatment plant on a 149-hec-tare site in San Francisco do Conde (Salvador de Baía). During this period, the Group has been hired to manage the waste from its catchment area, including particularly San Francisco do Conde and Candeias. Its operations in the reclaimable waste market have grown to cater for in-dustrial estates and the refinery near the plant. In its sec-

Operating/Service

Construction

Operating/Service & construction

Mondoñedo controlled landfill (Colombia)

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Disposal/elimination activities

ond year the plant was already handling 120000t/yr and making a profit. In early 2009, the Group bought a 50% stake in a local company in southern Brazil specialised in

hazardous waste management. During these two years, the plant has been brought into line with HERA’s stand-ards and its turnover has increased fourfold.

Main environmental pressures Units *

Spain

Consumption of electricity generated on site per tonne of waste treated at CL

0.46 0.44 0.41 kWh/t M

Consumption of bought-in electricity per tonne of waste treated at CL and disposal

0.44 0.44 1.41 kWh/t M

Consumption of natural gas in disposal activities 222740 0 0 cu.m. M

Consumption of raw materials:

Sulphuric acid» 12350 3650 7740 l M

Soda» 6500 10200 12814 l M

Salt» 5 10 12 t M

Foam inhibitor» 325 0 0 l M

Slaked lime» 45 170 260 t M

Quick lime» 29 198 374 t M

Cement» 13 0 0 t M

Diesel oil» 33578 32354 33132 l M

Aggregates» 242 100 231 t M

Gravel» 990 266 794 t M

Number of significant fuel, oil, chemical spills 1 0 0 M

Volume of mains water per tonne of waste treated at CLs and disposal

0.014 0.026 0.032 cu.m. M

Amount of waste generated by (disposal activity):

Stabilised sludge» 381 4265 6046 t M

Evaporator concentrate » 366 0 0 t M

NO, SO and other significant emissions into air by type and weight (Disposal activity):

Particles» Neg. 88 88 Kg M

CO» 79 174 126 Kg M

NOX» 12 510 454 Kg M

SO» 2 <163 <163 <163 mg/Ncu.m. M

Latin America

Electricity produced by biogas generation 0 0 0 kWh

Volume of mains water per tonne of treated waste 0.03 0.05 0.05 cu.m./t M

Volume of re-used water per tonne of treated waste 0.04 0.02 0.02 cu.m./t M

Mains electricity per tonne of treated waste 1.73 1.67 1.60 kWh/t M

Consumption of raw materials (topsoil) 16000 6047 5424 t M

Number of significant fuel, oil and chemical spills 0 0 0

*Estimated (E), Measured (M) or Calculated (C)

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Disposal/elimination activities

During the operating period of the Coll Cardús CL, more than 50% of the biogas generated by the 129-well field was captured, but its useful life will end within the next two-year period and the CL will be closed, at which point degasification and cap-ture will be at maximum levels.

The crisis in the industrial sector has caused a reduction in the waste treated at the Murcia CL.

The waste produced is disposed of as follows:

Sludge generated by physical and chemical treatment is then stabi-lised in the same plant or sent to a CL.

Stabilised hazardous waste is sent to a non-hazardous waste landfill.

Evaporator sludge is sent to the landfill.

Water treated by physical and chemical and biological processes then enters a public water course.

Details of biogas recovery and the handling of the leachate generated at the Coll Cardús controlled land-fill are described in chapters “From emissions to renewable energy” and “From wastewater to clean water” respectively. Figures for lea-chate management at Latin Ameri-can plants are also given in “From wastewater to clean water”. The facilities receiving treated SMW pro-duce virtually no biogas or leachate because this waste contains hardly any organic matter.

Commentaries about the main environmental pressures The amount of waste treated at the Coll Cardús landfill fell for several rea-sons: as a result of the restriction on the tonnes of waste handled, in line with the morphological study, because the landfill will soon be full; the crisis which has caused some industries to close and others to reduce their busi-ness and therefore to generate less waste; and finally, due to higher envi-ronmental awareness amongst Vallès Occidental inhabitants which has led to better waste separation and there-fore improved segmented collection.

Imported electricity increased in 2010 for two main reasons: the breakdown of two of the controlled landfill’s four electricity generating engines and the new power con-sumption required to bring the WTP into operation.

Rio Negrinho controlled landfill, Santa Catarina (Brazil)

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Logistics

4.3 Logistics

He andado muchos caminos,he abierto muchas veredas,he navegado en cien maresy atracado en cien riberas.

He andado muchos caminos, Antonio Machado

Waste transfer plants

In order to facilitate the handling of hazardous waste from small producers and make transport more efficient, the Group has recently incorporated waste transfer into its activities.

It has several plants (in Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Álava, Gi-jón and Galicia) which originally collected hazardous was-te from small producers but were subsequently authorised several years later to transfer hazardous waste.

The purpose of these facilities is to provide transportation for hazardous waste and to bring together and facilita-te the handling of small amounts of waste generated by small producers.

In 2009 the Group began to operate the Álava plant (able to store 410 cu.m./year) and started to build another plant in Galicia, which in addition to providing transfer servi-ces, also recovers plastic, metal and car oils, and is able to handle 10000t/yr – 7000 t/yr of which are reclaimed and subsequently recycled.

Both the paint and solvent recovery plant and the precious metal recovery plant offer their customers transfer services in addition to these main activities.

Waste transfer plants Incoming waste (t) 74693 48244 61702

In 2010, the Group’s transfer plants had more than 5 000 industrial customers

Transfer plant, Galicia (Spain)

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Logistics

Target markets

Type of customer

Hazardous waste transfer plantsCar industry, dry-cleaning, construction companies, tooling industries, etc.

Operating/Service

Construction

Operating/Service & construction

Main environmental pressures Spain

Units *

Waste transfer plants

Number of centres conducting transfer activities 6 6 6

Amount of electricity bought in (from the grid) 212312 165920 192945 kWh E

Consumption of diesel oil per tonne of waste collected 0.77 1.19 0.94 l/t E

Total consumption of mains water 270 420 578 cu.m. M

Consumption of raw materials

Absorbent materials» 6.6 9.1 8.5 cu.m. C

Solvents» 9000 12100 8600 l C

Rags» 276 517 540 Kg C

Number and volume of most significant accidental spills 10 spills,220 litres

5 spills, 300 litres

6 spills, 180 litres

*Estimated (E), Measured (M) or Calculated (C)

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Commitment to stakeholders

5. Commitment to

stakeholders

As mentioned earlier, the information in this report is for the benefit of the following stakeholders: partners and equity providers, customers, suppliers, employees, admin-istration, society and social and economic institutions. The HERA Sustainability Report was posted on HERA’s website and distributed in digital and printed form (in 2008, the English and Spanish versions together totalled 750 copies). These are the main channels used to communicate with stakeholders: they are explained below together with the indicators deemed to be important in each instance.

Providers

HERA’s aim is to create value added by means of trans-parent management that respects both persons and the environment.

With a view to increasing transparency for partners, in 2009 one committee was created to advise upon and fol-low up the content of board meetings, and another com-mittee to deal with remuneration.

% Shareholders’ capital 31.13% 32.11% 30.46%Total assets 176916 170423 194182Turnover 119706 96542 96328EBITDA 18235 12255 13500Allocated profit 6619 2129 1517Cost of finance 2674 2449 2499

Turnover of each activity

Recovery 48.36% 47.13% 43.73%Disposal 37.16% 35.50% 38.05%Logistics 11.01% 13.28% 14.69%

20092008 2010

119 706

18 2356 619 2 674

96 542

12 2552 129 2 449

96 328

1 517 2 49913 500

Turnover

EBITDA

Allocated profit

Cost of finance

The Group’s

Recovery

Disposal

Logistics

Turnover of each activity

2008

11.01%

48.36%

37.16%

2009

13.28%

47.13%

35.50%

2010

14.69%

43.73%

38.05%

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Commitment to stakeholders

Turnover by regions

The backdrop to the period covered by this report was a worsening economic and financial crisis that led to a gen-eral downturn in production and the closure of manufac-turing companies. The direct consequence for the HERA Group was a reduction in the waste handled by its Spanish facilities. This reduction, with its obvious impact on the Group’s earnings, made considerable cost cutting neces-sary. Nonetheless, the Group has continued to pursue its efforts in the realms of health and safety and environmen-tal protection because in the medium and long term such measures not only foster a safe and stable environment but also make for more effective management.

The credit squeeze in the Spanish money market together with higher levels of default amongst public-sector and industrial debtors, posed serious obstacles to the Group’s treasury management. It must, however, be said that our finance institutions have always provided the long-term backing needed to finance the core investment projects in HERA’s Business Plan. Despite the hostile economic sce-nario, HERA has continued to invest in its core businesses whilst abiding by its sensible policy of keeping annual cap-ital expenditure below EBITDA. As a result, keeping lever-

age at reasonable levels has become one of the Group’s strategic targets: the EBITDA achieved in 2010 will enable all bank loans to be repaid within 30 months.

In this recession scenario, the HERA Group took action de-signed to drastically cut costs. More efficient purchasing management plus measures to adapt labour costs to the economic environment resulted in savings of €2.2 million and €476284.67 respectively.

As demonstrated by the turnover of each region, the Group has become increasingly globalised and continues to con-solidate its activities outside Spain: up 28% to €21 million. The Group’s business in Latin America is particularly note-worthy with an increase of 27% in turnover – the same percentage as in the 2007-08 period. This has enabled the earnings of both geographical regions and business areas to diversify considerably without affecting the Group’s in-tention to boost recovery activities.

As regards the Spanish market, in comparison with 2009 the turnover of transfer plants as a whole increased by 15% and the turnover of wastewater treatment plants by 40% to more than €5 million.

Commitment to customers

HERA works to ensure on-going im-provements in the quality of their goods and services, attempting to cater for their customers’ needs by providing ef-ficient, innovative solutions.

In this respect the Group uses satisfac-tion surveys to gain an insight into what customers think. Because differ-ent companies, activities and approach-es are involved, customer satisfaction is evaluated separately for each company and realm of business by using cus-tomer surveys and interviews. Survey results are then used as the basis for a report which is studied by manage-ment before taking the necessary steps in conjunction with the marketing de-partment and setting higher targets for the following year.

With a view to centralising the response and follow-up to complaints, several de-partments have been sharing a compu-ter programme since January 2008. The non-compliance programme, as it is

Turnover by regions

Spain 97750 80073 75314Europe 9037 2397 3194Latin America 12918 14073 17820

known, is a data base where deviations of different types and origins found in the organisation are logged and man-aged, particularly those detected by the organisation’s own staff and during audits, inspections, emergencies, acci-dents, customer complaints, etc.

In 2010, 60% of all turnover was certified or pending certification in compliance with UNE-EN ISO 14001 and UNE-EN ISO 9001.

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Commitment to stakeholders

Company ActivityISO

9001:00QUALITY

ISO9001:08QUALITY

ISO14001

ENVIRON-MENT

OHSAS18001

HEALTH AND

SAFETY

SA 8000 CSR

EMAS ENVIRON-

MENT

LABORATORY

ISO 17025 CERTIFICATION

INSPECTION

BODY

ISO 17020 CERTIFICATION

HERA AMASA S.A UN Tecnologías LimpiasClean Tech Division / Water dept.

Design, construction, installation and start-up of treatment plants for landfill, municipal and industrial wastewater, and aftersales service

TRATESA Tractament Tècnic d’escombraries S.A.UEnvironmental services for industry division / Water Treatment Plant Dept.

Services provided: WTP management, in-dustrial waste management, dismantling of industrial facilities, environmental research and consultancy; follow-up, monitoring and remediation of soils and water tables.

TRATESA Tractament Tècnic d’escombraries S.A.UEnvironmental services for industry division / Operating dept.

Final disposal of non-hazardous industrial and municipal waste including: reception and control of non-hazardous industrial and municipal waste; CL management; treatment of leachate and biogas recovery.

Medioil Levante S.L.Environmental services for industry division / Operating dept.

Final disposal of non-hazardous industrial and municipal waste including: reception and control of non-hazardous industrial and mu-nicipal waste and CL management.

TRATESA Tractament Tècnic d’escombraries S.A.UEnvironmental services for industry division / Waste management dept.

Provision of waste management services.

ALANSU S.L.Environmental services for industry division / MIW dept.

Collection, transportation and storage of hazardous and non-hazardous waste at the S. Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) transfer station.

INDURECO S.L.Environmental services for industry division / MIW dept.

Collection, transfer and storage of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Treatment, recov-ery and sale of solvents and paints.

TRATESA Tractament Tècnic d'escombraries S.A.UEnvironmental services for industry division / MIW dept. / Muriedas plant, Cantabria

Collection, transfer, recovery, management and treatment hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

TRATESA Tractament Tècnic d’escombraries S.A.UContaminated soil divi-sion / Contaminated soil dept.

Research, soil remediation and environmen-tal consultancy.

HERA Ailinco,Argentina

Presorting, admission control, incinera-tion, stabilisation/solidification, physical and chemical treatment and final disposal in CLs of specific and non-specific industrial waste and PCB dechlorination.

STL, S.A.E.S.P., Colombia

Environmental analyses and surveys required by the competent environmental authorities.

HERA SUL Tratamento de Resíduos Ltda.

Treatment and final disposal of class I and II waste in industrial landfill.

HERA Brasil Management of administrative, accounting, commercial, financial, legal, technical and in-stitutional procedures.

Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Bureau Veritas Certification Under way SGS ICS ENAC IRAM IDEAM

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Commitment to stakeholders

Commitment to suppliersOur relationship with suppliers is underpinned by all facets of corporate social responsibility and respect for the environment.

The Group conducts an annual assessment of its suppliers and any incidents detected are evaluated according to the criteria set forth in the in-house regulations of each company in the Group.

Commitment to employeesHERA’s relationship with its workers is based on mutual commitment, re-spect and ethics in line with the best practices set forth in certifications SA 8000 and OHSAS 18001. The Group considers their employees to be their main asset.

In the Group’s human resources policy, equal opportunities and non-discrimi-nation are of prime importance from when staff are recruited to when they leave the company. This is clearly demonstrated by the Person Processwhich details the processes used to recruit, incorporate, train and assess staff’s performance, all on the basis of equality.

Creation of open-ended contracts in Spain (2010)*:

80% of workers have open-ended contracts.Average length of service: 4.5 years.

Young staff:Average age: 37.7 years.

Several official communication chan-nels have been established to ensure clear and effective in-house commu-nication:

the immediate superior, the shop steward (if any), and/or the HR and CSR department.

The Communication Department periodically issues an in-house e-bulletin and regularly distributes information about any changes or news affecting the organisation.

The in-house, corporate portal – HERAnet – enhances the flow of information. Its constant updates and the on-going participation of all collaborators in its maintenance keep this tool alive and make it a meeting point for all members of the Group. Its HR section was en-larged in 2009 by posting in-house regulations and policies and the addition of a space for corporate social responsibility considerations and application forms to facilitate employee procedures.

The payroll began to be managed inter-nally in 2009, thereby facilitating staff consultation and management. Wage slips also began to be forwarded by email that year, ensuring more punctual delivery and considerable paper savings.

Supplies 65208 48720 44925Outsourcing 23476 24953 25152Total Costs 88684 73673 70078

Total outlay on wages (€ ‘000) 20616 18393 18095Europe staff 18 7 15Latin America staff 152 135 157Spain staff 429 393 359Total staff 599 535 531

To help reconcile employees’ work and family life, since summer 2009 all departments (except production shifts) have had shorter working hours in July and August.

In 2009, employees and shop stew-ards were informed that seven of the Group’s companies would need temporary EREs (layoff authorisa-tions) for 2010. The intention was to shorten working hours in order to bring personnel costs into line with the new production needs caused by the decline in business, and thereby avoid making staff redundant.

The Group’s human resources team established a period for negotiating with shop stewards and agreements were reached on how to minimise the economic consequences. One of the main solutions was the payment of bonuses on days not worked.

At the time of writing this report, these provisional measures have ceased and not been extended.

We are nevertheless aware of the situ-ation and doing our utmost to imple-ment the measures necessary to avoid layoffs.

* NB: this information is not available for Europe and Latin America

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The Group has traditionally had very low trade union membership. The first instance occurred in early 2000 when many workers joined Tratesa. During the Group’s growth phase, the numbers of union members increased as a result of buying companies that already had shop

Outlay on wages by region

Europe 935 1018 885Latin America 1426 1865 2586Spain 18149 15510 14624

stewards. In 2008 two shop stewards’ committees were created after the trade union elections and in 2010 anoth-er committee was set up. Consequently, the Group now has three works committees and five shop stewards in its companies in Spain.

2008

3%

25%72%

2009

1%

27%72%

2010

3%

29%68%

Europe

Latin America

Spain

Total staff by region

Percentage male/female staff

2008

67%

33%

69%

31%

2009

67%

33%

2010

Men

Women

Training requirements are analysed each year and a train-ing programme is drawn up including general-interest courses and specific seminars of a technical nature. The staff’s knowledge is updated every year in areas thought to be of particular interest such as occupational safety and environmental protection. The Group’s commitment to cost cutting was applied to training too in this period but despite this, work continues to improve this area thanks to the:

Creation of job profiles to ensure standard training in industrial accident prevention.

Creation of a single database on training in general.

In late December 2009, the HERA companies established a Combined Accident Prevention Department to cover the three main prevention areas (health and safety, industrial hygiene and applied psychosociology) and analyse all the industrial ac-cident prevention activities carried out in 2010.

Regardless of the number of employees making it obligatory to have a health and safety committee, each company with a shop steward has an Accident Prevention Committee to enable and improve workers’ participation and communication about health and safety.

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Commitment to the authoritiesThe activities the HERA Group carries out entail a high degree of collaboration with different authorities, particu-larly local authorities. The companies in the Group try to forge close links with the city councils wherever their en-vironmental facilities are located. In this respect, in 2010 HERA gave the Vacarisses town council two biogas-fuelled vehicles, and sponsored cultural and leisure activities and community development programmes in conjunction with the city councils where it operates.

As part of its proactive approach to innovation and re-search in the realm of municipal waste management, the

HERA Group sponsored the 2010 and 2011 REINNOVA conferences organised by ARC (waste management agen-cy of Catalonia) and CRVO (Vallès Occidental waste man-agement consortium).

HERA develops R&D projects in search of waste recov-ery technologies that are feasible in technical, economic and environmental terms, and which contribute to sus-tainability. Details of the grants awarded in 2009-10 for each activity are given in the respective section. It must once again be emphasised how much effort was made to obtain grants: despite this being a time fraught with economic and financial difficulties, twice as many grants were obtained as in the previous period.

Spain*Sick leave due to illness (days per employee) 8.47 6.17 8.45Sick leave due to accident (days per employee) 1.56 1.66 1.40Absenteeism (days per employee) 3.28 3.00 2.40Turnover rate 2.32 4.72 2.58Staff hired/total staff 27% 27% 25%Staff departures/total staff 26% 35% 30%

Incident rate 15.31 17.69 13.48Number of deaths 0 0 0

Latin America**ChileAbsenteeism rate Neg. Neg. Neg.Incident rate 1.18 10.79 2.50Number of deaths 0 0 0ArgentinaAbsenteeism rate Neg. Neg. Neg.Incident rate 3.00 20.70 3.10Number of deaths 0 0 0ColombiaAbsenteeism rate Neg. Neg. Neg.Incident rate 0.02 0.01 0.01Number of deaths 0 0 0

* NB: Figures for Europe not available.** NB: Data only available for Chile, Argentina and Colombia. Absenteeism is very low in these countries and deemed to be negligible (neg.).

Average hours of training per employee

Job categoriesSales staff 2.45 1.24 0.23Drivers 0.68 0.97 1.41Managers 3.16 1.17 0.07Admin. Staff 5.55 4.17 1.14Workers 5.23 7.01 3.02Supervisors 6.29 30.48 2.59

Technicians 6.67 27.14 3.97Total 5.28 11.07 2.20

* Data only available for Spain.

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Grants awarded (€ ‘000) 233 590 678Number of patents granted or pending 2 3 2Fines related to environmental incidents (€) 6010 0 0Activated R&D&I outlay (€ ‘000) 1880 1742 1523

Commitment to societyThe main aim of all the services the HERA Group provides is to protect the environment and people’s health and safety. Wherever it operates, the Group assumes its responsibil-ity to society and tries to raise environmental awareness amongst the general public by contributing its knowledge of waste management activities and technology.

Since 1989 we have been promoting environmental education by giving guided tours of our facilities. In the 2009-10 period, the Coll Cardús CL (Spain) welcomed more than 980 visitors from schools, universities, compa-nies and public and private institutions.

Whenever possible, HERA includes an environment room in the facilities it builds, in the conviction that these areas to inform, raise awareness and educate the public are necessary in order to promote knowledge and a com-mitment to on-going improvement and sustainability.

Since its creation, the HERA Group has participated in fo-rums, conferences and congresses, and collaborated with the courses taught by educational establishments and universities. Also deserving of mention is the Group’s par-ticipation as teachers on the following courses: Master in Energy Project Management run by IEAN, workshop on the globalisation of quality and integrated corporate safe-ty, organised by the Integral Safety and Accident Preven-tion School, Barcelona University, course on membrane technology organised by ICRA, Centre for Water Science, Cranfield University and Gerona University, conference on SMW biomethanisation organised by the Entitat Metropol-

itana de Barcelona and Barcelona University, and ESADE’s BICE conferences. The Group also collaborates regularly with the ATEGRUS association and the ISRCER Foundation to disseminate information about current and new tech-nologies with a view to optimising the use of resources and promoting the sustainable development of society.

In 2010 the HERA Group held the 5th Residu’Art awards at the CCCB (Contemporary Culture Centre, Barcelona). The event was chaired by the Catalonian Ministry of the Environment and Housing (Spain). The Residu’Art awards are an initiative by the HERA Group intended to give a new insight into waste by working together with new and established artists to transform waste into works of art. In 2008 these awards were incorporated into the Inter-national Festival of Artistic Recycling, organised by the Drap-Art Association, contributing the award for the Drap-Art group exhibition. The last time it was held, in 2010, it had more than 15 500 visitors and exhibited more than 300 artistic projects from around the globe.

The HERA Group joined the UN Global Compact in 2006 driven by its commitment as a company working towards the development and promotion of CSR by promoting and backing a series of essential values in the realms of human rights, employment, the environment and the fight against corruption. The annual progress report can be consulted on the website of the Spanish network of the World Pact: www.pactomundial.org.

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Action in Latin AmericaThe Group has donated many printers, computers and stereo systems for school activities in both Chile and Ar-gentina. HERA has become involved with the Chilean town of Llollinco by providing students with transport between their homes and schools.

Grants are provided to promote education. In 2009 and 2010 four students from Chillán (Chile) were awarded scholarships for four years.

All HERA’s landfills in Latin America, located in Argentina, Chile and Brazil, have an environment room visited by schoolchildren, university students, public authorities and business people.

HERA has made an active contribution to municipal clean-ing by providing containers and a weekly refuse collection service in Chillán (Chile).

We are active participants in the ECO 2011 Programme together with CICACZ (Campana and Zárate Interindus-trial Environmental Conservation Committee) to promote environmental education with a view to achieving sustain-able development, management and certification in pub-lic and private educational establishments in the towns of Zárate and Campana (Argentina).

As a member of CAITPA (Cámara Argentina de Industrias de Tratamiento para la Protección Ambiental) we are tak-ing part in the Programa de Cuidado Responsable del Me-dio Ambiente, Argentina.

In 2009-10 the Group has made financial contributions to Rotary International in Argentina to support the “Polio Plus” campaign designed to eradicate polio.

HERA has a controlled landfill in Chillán, one of the ar-eas most affected by Chile’s earthquake in 2010 which reached 8.8 on the Richter scale, the eighth most power-ful earthquake ever recorded.

Despite the scale of the quake, the Group’s facilities emerged virtually unscathed. Fortunately there were no

deaths amongst staff and their families although some of their homes were damaged. HERA provided technical and material aid and created a special fund for repairing and rebuilding houses belonging to both staff and local resi-dents.

Patronage:

CONAMA 10. The purpose of the Spanish Envi-ronment Congress is to create a forum for debate and study with a view to promoting sustainable development on the basis of participation, coopera-tion and shared experiences. The congress is held every two years and in 2010 HERA was the special patron.

Nature Guide. HERA has collaborated with Objetiu Natura (Catalonia’s Association of Nature Photographers, Spain) in producing the Vacarisses Nature Guide Volume 1: The biodiversity of Font de l’Orpina. The aim of this guide, published in conjunction with Vacarisses City Council (Spain), is to inform local residents, and particularly school-children, about the region’s biodiversity.

International Artistic Recycling Festival organ-ised by DRAP-ART, a non-profit-making associa-tion that promotes creative recycling by organising festivals, exhibitions and workshops. HERA is the festival patron and contributes the Residu’Art award.

REINNOVA. Congress on Innovation in Municipal Waste Treatment and Management organised by ARC and CRVO (Spain).

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Commitment to Social and Economic InstitutionsHERA demonstrates its commitment to social and economic institutions by participating in the following organizations and foundations:

International

ACIRNE Asociación Empresarial de Río Negrinho (Brazil)

ASEXMA Asociación de Exporta-dores de Manufacturas y Servicios de Chile

ASIQUIM A.G Asociación de In-dustriales Químicos de Chile

ATCP Asociación Técnica de Celu-losa y PapelATCP has specialist committees in which partners with suitable train-ing and specialisation are free to participate. The main participants in this association are direct cus-tomers of HERA Ecobío (Chile).Seminars held regularly include environmental solutions for the forestry and cellulose industries.

C.A.I.T.P.A. Cámara Argentina de Industrias de Tratamiento para la Protección Ambiental

CAMEC Chillán Chamber of Com-merce (Chile)

CICACZ Comité Interindustrial de Conservación del Ambiente de Campana y Zárate, ArgentinaThe aim of this non-profit-making body is to “promote cooperation and mutual learning between the government, industry and com-munity, focusing on protecting the environment and safeguarding resources”. The HERA company Ailinco is a member of this com-mittee.

CPCC Cámara de la Producción y el Comercio de ConcepciónCPCC is an autonomous associa-tion in the Bio Bio region (Chile) of companies from a variety of industries. It works to promote the businesses in this region, where HERA Ecobío S.A. is located, by representing the interests of this sector and fostering conditions for the development of private-sector business.

ERFO European Recovered Fuel OrganisationERFO is a non-profit-making as-sociation founded in 2001 by European producers of recovered solid fuel (RSF). Its main aim is to

promote the production and use of RSF in Europe by participating in its stardardisation and research projects.

PCR Programa de Cuidado responsable del Medio Ambiente de ArgentinaThe Environment Committee of the Cámara de la Industria Química y Petroquímica (CIQyP) ) is the body responsible in Argentina for implementing and running the programme: Cuidado Responsable del Medio Ambiente (CRMA). The Cámara Argentina de Industrias de Tratamiento para la Protección Ambiental (CAITPA) joined this programme in 2007 and has made considerable progress since then with improvements to different as-pects of environmental assessment. HERA participates in the Pro-grama de Cuidado Responsable as the representative of CAITPA on CIQyP’s environment committee.

Spain

Acció NaturaThis NGO works on biodiversity conservation and recycling projects. Jordi Gallego, HERA CEO and board member, is a spokesman for this organisation.

ACITRE Asociación Catalana de Instalaciones de Tratamiento de Residuos Especiales Association of the companies in the industrial waste sector which organ-ises discussion groups to assess the problems affecting this industry.

ADYR Asociación Española de Desalación y Reutilización

AEBIG Asociación Española de Biogás

AEI PRODEMA AsociaciónEmpresarial Innovadora de Medio Ambiente de Navarra

AEMA-RM Asociación de Empresas de Medio Ambiente de la Región de MurciaThis business association was founded to bring together all the companies directly related to the environment in the region of Murcia.

HERA Medioil Levante is one of the firms on the association’s board of directives.

APPA Asociación de Productores de Energías Renovables

ASEGRE Asociación de Empresas de Residuos y Recursos Especiales

ASEMA Asociación de Empresas del Medio AmbienteAssociation of companies oper-ating in the environment sector across Spain to promote the de-velopment and effective growth of this sector, particularly as regards the challenge of globalisation. HERA’s Chief Executive Officer is the ASEMA Chairman.

ASEPAM Asociación Española del Pacto Mundial

HERA joined the Spanish World Pact Network as a founding part-ner in 2006.

UN Global Compact is an ethical undertaking aiming for the enti-ties in all countries to implement, as an integrated part of their operations and strategies, 10 behaviour and action principles in the realms of human rights, employment, the environment and the fight against corrup-tion. Global Compact operates in Spain through the Spanish network of the World Pact of the United Nations, which already has more than 700 members repre-senting different stakeholders: companies, NGOs, trade unions, academic institutions and social organisations.

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Commitment to stakeholders

ATEGRUS Asociación Técnica para la Gestión de Residuos, Aseo Urbano y Medio Ambiente

Barcelona Chamber of Commerce HERA is a member of the Barcelona Chamber of Com-merce’s Environment Committee

CASLEMA Asociación Castilla y León Medio AmbienteA non-profit-making trade association of firms in Cas-tile and León (Spain) making a clear contribution to the sustainable development of this region.

Club EMAS Association of EMAS-registered companies in Catalonia (Spain)

CODESPA Foundation CODESPA is an NGO whose mission is to reduce pov-erty through economic and social development.

Fundación Empresa & ClimaThis foundation provides companies with the necessary information and tools to deal with the challenges and commitments of climate change. HERA is in the Kyoto Club Member category and is a founder patron of the foundation.

Fundación FIASFIAS provides young people with direct grants but its main aim is to cooperate with those associations and foundations that foster and facilitate the development of social action.

Fundación Forum Ambiental A non-profit-making body intended to create a plat-form for dialogue and collaboration between compa-nies, public authorities and the rest of society with a view to working together to achieve a development model more sustainable than at present. HERA is a founder member of this foundation.

GERD Asociación Española de Gestores de Residuos de la Construcción y la Demolición

ISR Spanish Institute for Resource Sustainability

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Toy recycling workshop - International Artistic Recycling Festival (Barcelona, Spain)

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Governance

6. Governance

StructureThe share capital of HERA HOLDING HABITAT ECOLOGÍA Y RESTAURACIÓN AMBIENTAL S.L., the Group’s parent company, is €10737515, fully subscribed and paid up. All shares confer the same voting and financial rights.

Group governance The corporate governance bodies supervise that the or-ganisation as a whole strives to achieve the Group’s es-sential and general objectives based on creating value by transforming waste into resources, satisfying custom-ers and contributing to environmental sustainability: the Group’s main commitment.

Group governance is attributed to the administrative bod-ies of the parent company: the General Shareholders’ As-sembly and the Board of Directors.

The General Shareholders’Assembly is the company’s main representative body.

The General Assembly necessarily meets once a year within the first 6 months of the financial year to discuss and take decisions about how the company is run, to allocate the results obtained the previous year, to ap-point or dismiss external auditors, and in short, to study and approve the annual individual and consolidated ac-counts of the Company and the Group and, when ap-plicable, to renew the Board of Directors.

When so instructed by the Chairman, the Secretary summons shareholders to the General Assembly, where they can express their opinions freely and vote on the questions on the agenda.

Before and during the Assembly, the mandatory, legal documents are available to all shareholders for consul-tation.

Decisions taken by the General Assembly are valid once approved.

The Board of Directors currently has twelve members: nine internal and three external members (the Chief Ex-ecutive Officer and two independent professionals).

The Board, by definition, must look after business and ensure the effectiveness of the policies it adopts, the fulfilment of the decisions taken and the execution of strategies by the Chief Executive Officer.

To do so, the Board encourages the different companies in the Group to be aware of society’s need to respect the environment. These companies’ activities therefore tend to safeguard the environment: one of the Group’s own basic values.

Two members of the Board of Directors deserve a special mention:

The» Executive Chairman, appointed by the Board and currently entrusted with all its powers, except those that cannot be delegated by law or under corporate by-laws. This person is, therefore, the Group’s manag-ing director with the greatest executive functions.

The» Chief Executive Officer, responsible for the management and execution of the decisions taken by the entity’s administrative bodies.

Mention must also be made of the Board Secretary en-trusted with the powers set forth in the by-laws, and likewise those endowed upon this post by the Spanish Limited Responsibility Company Act. Being a lawyer, the Secretary also ensures that the decisions taken by the entity’s administrative bodies are legal. The Group’s legal departments are answerable to the Secretary.

Mention must also be made of the advisory committee within the Board of Directors, the main mission of which is to advise about and follow up those matters which the Chairman of the Board deems to be of most impor-tance to the Company. This committee also prepares the sittings of the Board of Directors and provides informa-tion about strategic matters and the remuneration of executive staff. This advisory committee has no executive powers.

This committee currently consists of six board mem-bers including the Chairman, Chief Executive Office and Board Secretary.

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Governance

Members of the Board of DirectorsAt the present time, the members of the HERA Holding Habitat, Ecología y Restauración Ambiental, S.L. Board of Directors are:

Chairman

Pablo Solesio López-Bosch »

Spokespersons

LOBOSAN S.L. represented by Juan Fº San Nicolás »Santamaría

MAGECO GESTIÓN TOTAL S.L. represented by »Gonzalo P. de Cañedo-Argüelles Osborne

MORJO S.L. represented by Carlos Torres-Quevedo »López-Bosch

Nicolás Claudio Nowack Diez »Elvira Rodríguez-Borlado Zapata »SANCARMA S.L. represented by Fernando Sobrini »Aburto

SOLAL S.L. represented by Rafael Valero Sin »

Board Secretary

Manuel Pons Prat (*)»

* External board member

The Group’s Management The Group’s management is the responsibility of the ChiefExecutive Officer who, in accordance with the directives of the Board of Directors and its Executive Chairman,has broad and sufficient powers to authoritatively manage all the Group’s activities and businesses through its differ-ent companies.

To facilitate communication with its partners and poten-tial investors, the Group has a “Partner Office” located at Calle Numancia, 185, 6º, 08034 Barcelona.

This office deals with any queries partners may have about their relationship with the company, pays out div-idends and, finally, measures partners’ satisfaction with the information they receive from the Company.

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Appendices

7. Appendices

7.1 Basic GRI grid of contents

The following table of equivalents shows the pages in this report related to the C indicators in the “Guide for drafting Sustainability Reports”.

Indicador Page in report Comments

Strategy and analysis

1.1 5-7

2.1 14

2.2 15

2.3 15

2.4 Back cover

2.5 13

2.6 14

2.7 22, 26, 29, 32, 35, 40

2.8 41-50

2.9 15 Also specified in the respective chapter.

2.10 NR

Report parameters

3.1 13

3.2 13

3.3 13

3.4 On credit page

3.5 13, 41-50

3.6 13, 15

3.7 13 Scope specified in the respective chapter.

3.8 13

3.10 16-40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

3.11 16-40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

3.12 3

3.13 13

Governance, commitments and stakeholder participation

4.1 51

4.2 52

4.3 52

4.4 52

4.14 41

4.15 41

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Appendices

Indicador Page in report Comments

Management approach and performance indicators

Economic performance

EC1 41-50

EC4 47

Environmental performance

EN1 22, 26, 30, 33, 37, 40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

EN3 22, 26, 30, 33, 37, 40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

EN8 22, 26, 30, 33, 37, 40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

EN10 24

EN20 37

EN21 22, 26, 30, 33, 37, 40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

EN22 22, 26, 30, 33, 37, 40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

EN23 22, 26, 30, 33, 37, 40 Specified in the respective chapter when applicable.

EN26 NR The Group’s main business is the provision of services and technology to reduce environmental impact.

EN28 47

Implementation of industrial practices and work ethic

LA1 44, 45

LA2 44, 45 Incomplete information: average turnover per employee not available.

LA7 46

LA10 46NR: not required NA: not available

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Appendices

7.2 GlossaryAd situ remediation | Excavation and remediation of contaminated soil on site.

Anaerobic digestion | Biological decomposition of or-ganic matter in the absence of oxygen, producing biogas as a byproduct. Bio-methanisation.

Biogas | Biogas is combustible gas produced in nature or in specific facilities by the biodegradation of organic mat-ter due to the action of micro-organisms (methanogenic bacteria, etc) and other factors in the absence of air (i.e. an anaerobic setting). When organic matter rots in the absence of oxygen, the action of this type of bacteria gen-erates biogas.

CDM (Clean development mechanisms) | A flexible mechanism contemplated in the Kyoto Protocol based on projects. When an industrialised country invests in clean development mechanisms in a developing country the re-duction in the pollution stemming from this investment is certified and can be exchanged for emission credits in the company’s country of origin or another of the countries in which it operates.

CER | Certified emission reduction.

CL | Controlled landfill. Rubbish tip.

Digestate | Anaerobic digestion happens when the bac-terial microorganisms found in faecal matter act upon or-ganic waste of animal and plant origin, producing a mix-ture of gases with a high-methane content (CH4) called biogas: a very efficient fuel. This process generates diges-tates, a OFMW of waste with a high level of nutrients and organic matter (ideal as fertilizer) which can be applied fresh because the anaerobic treatment eliminates any un-pleasant odour and the proliferation of flies.

EMAS | A voluntary environmental management system enabling organisations to assess and improve their envi-ronmental performance and convey the necessary infor-mation to the public and other interested parties. This en-vironmental management system, known internationally as EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme), is pro-moted by the European Community.

Ex situ remediation | The contaminated soil is excavat-ed and a certified company treats it elsewhere.

In situ remediation | The contaminated soil is not exca-vated but decontaminated using boreholes.

ISO 14001 | Standard approved by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) setting forth a standard, voluntary environmental management system designed to improve corporate environmental behaviour, taking into ac-count the requirements of the interested parties or stake-holders within a philosophy of on-going enhancement.

ISO 9001 | Standard approved by the ISO (International Or-ganization for Standardization) setting forth a standard, vol-untary quality management system whose main aim is, with-in the aims of the organisation itself, to achieve customer satisfaction within a philosophy of on-going enhancement.

JI | Joint Implementation.

NCCB | Biofuel consisting of natural concentrated, com-pressed biogas.

OFMW | Organic fraction of municipal waste.

OHSAS 18001 | OHSAS standard setting forth the re-quirements for an occupational safety management sys-tem enabling organisations to control their occupational safety and improve their performance.

Physical and chemical treatment | Water treatment process combining physical methods with the addition of chemicals in order to reduce the contamination in the water.

Re-use | The minimisation of waste by using materials or objects used previously.

Reverse osmosis | Osmosis is a physical and chemical phenomenon consisting of the movement of water – the solvent of a solution – across a membrane which is semi-permeable to the solvent (water) but not the solute.

This is what happens in normal situations when pressure is equal on both sides of the membrane, but if pressure increases on the side of the higher concentration, water can be forced through from the high concentration to the low concentration side.

This can be said to be the opposite of osmosis, hence the name, reverse osmosis. It must be remembered that in re-verse osmosis, only water goes through the semi-perme-able membrane. In other words, water moves from the more-concentrated to the less-concentrated solution.

SA 8000 | Standard issued by Social Accountability Inter-national setting forth voluntary guidelines for organisa-tions who wish to incorporate corporate social responsi-bility considerations into their management system and have them accredited by independent bodies.

SMW | Solid municipal waste.

t | Metric tonne.

TC | Temporary consortium of companies (Spanish: UTE).

WWTP sludge | Liquid sediment containing the solids obtained by sedimenting or decanting wastewater or a biological reagent at a household or industrial wastewater treatment plant.

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Appendices

This land is peopled by stars,

Rivers of the mind run through this heaven

Beyond the clouds arising

from these waters and this land

our ancestors dream on.

Their spirits, they say, are the full moon

And silence, their beating hearts.

This land is peopled by stars.Elicura Chihuailaf, Mapuche poet of Chile

Beloved sun, shine once more,

Chase the dark clouds away.

Shine your golden beams again

Upon hill and vale.

Dry every road of

yesterday’s rain.

Beloved sun, come out again,

that we might play together.

In the rain, Hoffmann von Fallersleben

Many are the paths I have walked,

many the tracks I have trod,

I have sailed a hundred seas

and moored by a hundred shores.

…Many are the paths I have walked, Antonio Machado

7.3 Translations of lyrics and poetry

...And sometimes, quite unexpectedly, a dreadful occur-rence changes what we thought was logical,

making it obvious,

that for one moment,

we had made it.From the song: Captatio Benevolentiae

Album: Els Millors Professors Europeus

Group: Manel

I see the monuments

of broken, ancient stone,

but when I touch

the stone scar

it is your body that responds,

and suddenly,

my trembling fingers,

recognise

your tender warmth.

….

The Earth, Pablo Neruda

The neverending

murmur of water

is the beloved sap

that ripens the fields,

the blood of poets

that let their souls

wander away along the paths

of Nature.

...

Tomorrow, Federico García Lorca

....

The perfume of grass pervading

The midst of a summer night;

The song of a dazzling blackbird

Joyfully flapping its wings

The perfume of all nature,

Flowers, scent, honey and ambrosia,

The song of every creature

Calling out from earth to heaven.From earth to heaven, Arsene Houssaye (1815-1896)

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