To provide materials in an efficient and responsible manner, we strive to apply circular economy principles to help eliminate waste in all forms across our value chain.
What do our operations have in common with Iceland’s Blue Lagoon, Denmark’s Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant and the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona? All are employing more circular business practices in a bid to protect the planet and its finite resources.
The circular economy, which advocates for consuming fewer resources, using them for longer, and ultimately eliminating waste through reusing, refurbishing, remanufacturing and recycling, is an imperative as we strive to build a more sustainable, equitable and decarbonised world.
Our approach can be seen across our business, including in our operations, as we work to meet the growing global demand for our metals and minerals, while managing our impact and maximising the value of our products during their full lifecycle.
A key example is our Zero Waste to Landfill programme (ZWTL), introduced by our Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) business in 2013, seeking to eliminate unnecessary wastage and waste through reduction, re-use and recycling initiatives. The business has since achieved a 99.9% reduction in waste to landfill against a 2013 baseline, saving more than 500 thousand tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted.
The ambition of this initiative, and the lessons learned during its implementation and execution, are now being shared globally across Anglo American, with our approach to circular thinking being applied to projects of varying degrees of scale and impact.
Exhibition stand at the 2023 Africa Mining Indaba
As of early-2022, nearly 60% of all our non-mineral waste at Anglo American is now recycled or re-used and we are finding creative ways to repurpose our ‘waste’ into new resources. One example was our exhibition stand for the 2023 Africa Mining Indaba which, post-event, was donated to an education centre in Graaf-Reinet and has been repurposed into a library and play therapy area.
Repurposed stands, into a library and play area
In South America, we have explored whether waste material from our Barro Alto nickel operations can help enhance agricultural productivity and improve crop yields. This waste by-product, ferronickel slag, has the potential to be used in the production of a thermo-magnesium fertiliser which, as an input to the agricultural sector, can lead to significant productivity improvements.
Anglo American is also involved in The Circulars Accelerator programme, which is led by Accenture and hosted digitally on the World Economic Forum’s platform for innovation, Uplink. The programme was designed to connect organisations and help them to prioritise circular innovation in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. One of three partners in the programme. Anglo American is working with 2022 alumni, Topolytics, on a pilot project to understand our current waste streams and drive future waste reduction initiatives.
On a much larger scale, waste rock and tailings, generated through traditional mining techniques, could represent one of the biggest circular opportunities for the industry. A new characterisation and management program is also being designed to help us extract maximum value from mineral waste such as tailings and waste rock, while minimising its environmental impact. In future, our mineral waste could become a vital source of critical materials as well as unlocking pathways for nature-positive land use.
Consistent data will be vital here – helping us understand how much waste we produce, what we do with it, and the context in which this takes place.
Working to scale circular ventures
Another important area of focus for our business is on how to best scale circular initiatives from pilot projects to going concerns. Our investment in Sanergy, a pioneering organic waste upcycling business with operations in Kenya, is one example.
Sanergy is developing innovative solutions to transform how fast-growing cities in the developing world manage waste by upcycling it into high value agriculture and energy products. In addition to supporting Sanergy in its expansion plans, part of our investment is being used to validate the company’s waste capture and conversion process with respect to its emissions reduction potential, and to facilitate access to the international carbon markets.
CircuLab – a gateway for game-changing solutions
In April 2023, we celebrated the 2022 cohort of Anglo American’s CircuLab programme. It encourages people within our organisation to think about new ways to approach materials normally considered waste, by instead viewing them as something of value.
Guiding our colleagues to innovate, whilst supporting them in developing and demonstrating their ideas, enables us to create incredible opportunities for our people and our business that can take us even further in the transition to a circular economy.
Peter Whitcutt, CEO of Anglo American’s Marketing business, has been the executive sponsor of CircuLab for the past two years. He said: “As we shape the future of our business, the traditional, linear business model of ‘Take. Make. Dispose’ is proving increasingly unsustainable. As part of the solution, we must embrace and encourage more circular business practices across our value chain and through the value chains of our products.
“I have been greatly inspired by the opportunities fielded by our teams over the past couple of years to use less resources, to minimise waste and to reduce our environmental footprint. These individuals are at the heart of making our approach to waste management more systemic and effective, and our ability to retain our position as a leader in material stewardship.”