At Anglo American, we have a clear Purpose: to re-imagining mining to improve people’s lives.
The products that we provide are essential for the future of society, particularly as we strive to build a more sustainable, equitable and decarbonised world.
Global demand for minerals and metals is expected to rise substantially in the coming decades to meet this challenge. This reinforces the importance of being able to provide the goods and services society needs to grow, while managing impacts and delivering positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
This challenge is at the heart of the circular economy – a key area in the Healthy Environment pillar of our Sustainable Mining Plan – which is about minimising waste in all its forms and making the most of what we have, natural resources included. It advocates re-using, redesigning and, sharing, repairing, refurbishing, re-manufacturing, and recycling – consuming fewer resources in the first place and using them for longer. Ultimately turning waste into a resource.
At a more fundamental level, it is about creating new models for businesses to promote and incentivise efficiency.
One of the main ways in which we are applying the principles of the circular economy is in the management of materials – particularly through focusing on materials stewardship for long term stakeholder value – rather than the traditional approach of managing wastes as a cost and liability, which often overlooks the opportunity to create value.
We are developing a long-term approach to allow us to embed this thinking into how we plan and execute our activities.
With that in mind, we’d like to shine the spotlight onto our zero waste to landfill initiative taking place at our South Africa platinum group metal [PGMs] operations.
PGM’s journey to zero waste to landfill
Demonstrating leadership in managing non-mineral waste streams, in 2021 our PGMs business achieved a 99.9% reduction in waste to landfill from a 2013 baseline.
The total waste sent to landfill in 2021 was 22.42 tonnes, which represented a reduction from 22,000 tonnes on the 2013 baseline. Out of the 22.42 tonnes, 14.7 tonnes were related to base emulsion for which alternatives to landfill have not yet been identified and the rest was asbestos waste, which must be landfilled in line with South African legislation.
With this reduction, PGMs saved in excess of 503,053 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted.
While this is a great achievement, the journey began in 2013, when PGMs committed to eliminating unnecessary wastage and waste to landfill by implementing waste reduction, re-use and recycling initiatives.
Focusing on the waste created at the end of life of products, they also embraced the concept of the circular economy to eliminate or repurpose ‘waste’ into new resources.
Once a product is no longer required, it is thrown away and, in most cases, ends up at a landfill site.
As well as the loss of useful material in the product itself, at the landfill site there is potential for soil and water pollution, while the decomposition processes release greenhouse gases, such as methane, which contribute to climate change.
In addition to supporting a healthy and clean environment, one of the key drivers of their zero waste to landfill project is alignment with the South African Waste Management Strategy and the goal of moving up the waste management hierarchy. PGMs mapped all their waste streams, and categorised them as reduce, re-use or recycle.
In doing so, they took the opportunity to improve the way we measure waste data, so that they could set operation-specific strategies and targets towards achieving our overarching zero waste to landfill ambition.
Employee engagement and awareness have been fundamental to their success.
To get everyone on board, PGMs needed to motivate a mind shift towards valuing waste as a resource. Each of the sites appointed ‘waste champions’ to help address immediate opportunities for waste management improvements, and to audit and review waste management facilities.
They recognised and rewarded those operations and employees that performed the best.
In 2018, they partnered with a specialist waste company to develop and implement sustainable solutions for management of various operational non-mineral waste streams. PGMs’ collecting, sorting and recycling initiatives also benefit communities – for example, supplying wood pallets for manufacturing of furniture by a local community business, donating bicycles that assist communities in collecting recyclables to be taken to the recycling hub, job opportunities for on-site waste management and sorting as well as improving waste awareness through various community-based campaigns for example the waste to art competition held for schools.
By providing people with a source of income in this way, we are giving back to our host communities. Looking ahead, PGMs will continue to implement their sustainable waste programme to ensure that no waste is sent to landfill.
To do this, they will continue to proactively engage with stakeholders, and develop further community waste management projects to improve awareness and a healthy sustainable environment for future generations.
View Circular Economy page here.