Continuously improve our eco-footprint according to Decalogue targets

Reduce energy consumption by 5%*
Reduce water consumption by 5%*
Reduce chemical consumption by 5%*
80% of waste to be reused or recycled
<5% landfill waste versus total waste
Reduce pollution from VOCs by 10% in Front-End*
Reduce pollution from acidification by 5% in Front-End*
Reduce pollution from eutrophication by 5%*
Reduce pollution from heavy metals by 10% in Back-End*
(*) per unit produced / year

 

Consumption: absolute values | EN5 | STEV31 | 3.1 | STEV64 | 2.3 |
				2004	2005	2006
Electricity (GWh)				2,148	2,341	2,469
Water (1,000m3)				20,550	21,834	22,215
Chemicals (tons)				16,938	18,669	21,378

 

Consumption of electricity: normalized values | EN3 | STEV31 | 3.1 |

 

Consumption of water: normalized values | EN8 | STEV56 2.2 |

 

Consumption of chemicals: normalized values | EN1 | STEV64 | 2.3 |

 

ST eco-footprint 2006
	The eco-footprint is a composite index based on 10 individual indicators (For more details see below “ST eco-footprint 2006”)

 

Landfill waste | EN22 | STEV73 | 6.2 |						% of total waste

 

Recycled waste | EN22 | STEV71 | STEV72 | 6.1						%
	1994	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Waste recycled	25	65	73	80	78	80

Overall reduction in consumption

In 2006, the absolute consumption of all ST sites has increased by 5.4% (electricity), 1.6% (water) and 14.5% (chemicals). These trends should be compared to a production growth equivalent to 10.4 % in 2006.

Consumption of electricity

ST operated in 2006 at 54% of the 1994 value. The challenging goal to reduce our normalized electricity consumption by 5% per year has been met. As an example of good practice implementation one can highlight the installation in Catania (Italy), Rousset (France) and Ang Mo Kio (Singapore) of a system that continually cleans the tubes of the heat exchangers used in producing cooling water. By preventing performance degradation, this saves 6 to 15 GWh/year, i.e. 500 US$k to 1 US$m/year.

Other examples of projects implemented in 2006 include the replacement of old compressors in Ang Mo Kio, the upgrading of cooling towers in Agrate (Italy) and the installation of new free-cooling systems in Catania.

Consumption of water

The chart above plots our performance against the Decalogue target and shows that the reduction of water consumption per unit produced has been much faster than planned. ST is consuming about 30% of the quantity of water used in 1994 for the same equivalent production unit. Many successful programs are addressing water saving especially in the field of water recycling activities (the company’s average rate of water recycling is around 30%). Among the sites that have implemented the most beneficial water saving projects are Ang Mo Kio (water reclaim), Agrate (water recovery from cooling towers), Shenzhen (China, ultra filtration systems) and Toa Payoh (Singapore, recovery of deflash water using new UF membrane).

Consumption of chemicals

Despite an overall performance that is much better than ST’s Decalogue target, we have slightly increased our chemical consumption due to new technologies that are highly demanding in terms of new chemicals. Specific programs on new recipes and process optimization are in progress in close cooperation with the Semiconductor Equipments Industry and with our chemical suppliers.

ST eco-footprint 2006
The ‘eco-footprint’ is an environmental composite indicator that allows ST to monitor a number of key aspects of the environmental performance of our manufacturing plants. The following 10 parameters compose this indicator:

• Global warming
• Air acidification
• VOC emissions
• Material intensity
• Electricity consumption
• Water consumption
• Chemical consumption
• Waste
• Heavy metals to water (Back-end sites) - Fluoride to water (Front-end sites)
• Eutrophication.

For each parameter, the value of 1 is our target, generally based on the best performance achieved by an ST site at some point in time. The positive trend of the last 3 years is supported by projects focusing mainly on energy saving, PFC and VOC emission reduction.

Landfill waste

In 2006 only 4.8% of the total waste produced by ST went to landfill. This has been achieved by promoting the correct separation and destination of different wastes produced in ST sites.

In particular we guarantee a responsible re-use of waste chemicals (that represent a significant percentage of our manufacturing waste) by sending them to companies that are authorized to reclaim (whenever possible) or to burn them with energy valorization.

Hazardous waste

Hazardous waste, in very general terms, is the waste resulting from the production process, which can include chemical substances, plastics, lightbulbs, etc. The formal definition of hazardous waste varies from country to country. Since 2004, we have been tracking data on hazardous waste, but this data is not yet ready for publication. All hazardous waste is disposed of safely by specially authorized companies to avoid environmental contamination (e.g. solvents are burned with energy recovery; inorganic substances can be reused inside or outside ST).

Recycled waste

Despite an increasing production, ST is maintaining a level of 80% of recycled waste. Based on local regulation and initiatives, each site identifies specific projects to reach the challenging target reported in ST’s EHS Decalogue (re-use or recycle at least 95% of our waste).

Biodiversity

This is not applicable to ST’s industrial activity.