Prague, July 11, 2017 –The Unipetrol Group spent a total of 1.116 billion CZK on environmental protection in the Czech Republic last year. The money were aimed at the operation of facilities ensuring environmental protection, modernization of production plants, optimization of energy efficiency as well as remediation of old ecological burdens. Thus, over the past ten years, the volume of emissions discharged into sewage has dropped by 83%; the volume of emissions into the air by 70%.
Unipetrol spends yearly more than a billion crowns on environmental protection and protection of health and work safety. The Group has been successfully modernizing production, reducing the volume of emissions and waste substances and, in cooperation with the Czech Ministry of Finance, removing old environmental burdens. This is shown in the Unipetrol Group’s 2016 Join Report on Occupational Health, Safety, and Environmental Protection, published by Unipetrol on its website.
The volume of pollution discharged into sewage has dropped by 83 percent. The volume of pollutants emitted in the air has dropped by 70 percent since 2007. „The important message is that the volume of discharge waste water and pollutants emitted into the air has been decreasing steadily. This positive trend will univocally continue in the coming years,“ says Pavel Sláma, Director of Ecology, Unipetrol Group.
Unipetrol’s selected environmental investments in 2016 include, for instance, reconstruction of sewerage systems and water management ensuring of handling areas in production units as well as preparation of projects to meet the requirements of the so-called Best Available Techniques (BAT); further preparatory work for the installation of equipment for reducing emission of nitrogen oxides (DeNOx) and sulfur oxides (DeSOx) in the T700 heating plant. As for the petrochemical segment, Unipetrol’s preparing construction of the new energy block the launch of which is planned for 2020. A number of projects are under preparation also in the water management section. These projects will further reduce the amount of discharged waste, such as vanadium. Over the next two years, the existing sewage technology will be modernized and intensified and the new wastewater pre-treatment units will be built.
Both public and state administration and local authorities are kept informed about the operation. „We send information on the non-standard situations by e-mail or phone to representatives of neighboring towns and municipalities as well as given state institutions. Branches of the Police of the Czech Republic and the municipal police in Most and Litvínov are informed on-line about the current situation in Chempark Záluží. Information for the public are freely available on the website and green line of the Environmental Center in Most and Kralupy and also on our website,“ concludes Pavel Sláma.
As part of active environmental development, Unipetrol continued its cooperationg with the North Bohemian and Central Bohemian Organization of the Czech Fishing Union in the Elbe and Bílina River near Litvínov and Neratovice last year. During seven-year existence of the project, Unipetrol has planted a total of 6.2 thousand kilograms of fish into both rivers worth half a million crowns. Unipetrol’s production plants are a suitable nesting place for peregrine falcons which are being taken care of by both Unipetrol emplyoees and Alka Wildlife organization. The falcons regularly nest in production facilities in Záluží u Litvínova, Kralupy nad Vltavou and Neratovice.
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UNIPETROL, a.s., controls companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005, Unipetrol became part of the PKN Orlen Group, the Central Europe’s largest crude oil processor. The Unipetrol Group is oriented mostly towards crude oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas, the Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading companies in the Czech Republic in terms of revenues, and employs more than 4,500 people.