FGV Annual Report 2016

ANNUAL INTEGRATED REPORT 2016 71 REPORTING ON WHAT MATTERS WASTE MANAGEMENT We are presently in the midst of encouraging a zero waste management policy throughout the Group to reduce our overall carbon footprint. Employees are encouraged to identify and separate waste that can be reused or recycled in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Our plantations also participate in a pesticide container recycling programme to ensure that receptacles that used to contain toxic materials are disposed safely and appropriately. We are also committed to the maximum utilisation of biomass waste from our mill operations, and have tasked our R&D department to find innovations that can produce high-value products or put them for good use. A number of achievements have been made in the area of waste management over the last few years. For example, all our RSPO certified premises now practice the triple rinsing method to properly clean their agrochemical receptacles prior to sending them for recycling. To better utilise the by-products of the milling process, six (6) compost plants using Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) and wastewater from the milling process to produce high-quality compost have been established. The compost is then channelled back into the field as a nutrient rich organic fertiliser to feed our palms. FGV plans to expand its waste management practices to associated smallholders moving forward. WATER AND PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT (POME) MANAGEMENT Water is essential for irrigating our oil palms and the production of CPO (approximately 5-7.5 MT of water is needed to process 1.0 MT of CPO from FFB). The sustainable harvest and return of water to our river systems are critical for both our operations and our surrounding ecosystem as the interruption of a clean water cycle could cripple our operations and damage the surrounding ecosystem beyond repair. Our ultimate aim is to reduce our water usage to 1.0 MT of water for each MT of FFB processed. In 2016, we used 1.34 MT of water on average to process 1.0 MT of FFB on average. We monitor our impact on water systems closely, and have identified a total of 135 major river systems that are affected by our operations. A sample of these rivers are tested annually with 41, 65 and 29 tested in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. The data from these tests has shown no significant deterioration of the water quality in these systems. Future assessments of stream water quality will be conducted based on the need for such analysis. Our monitoring processes cover the water discharged from our mills, which cannot be returned back into the environment in its raw state. On average, palm oil mills generate about 2.5 MT of POME for every MT of CPO. While organic, raw POME is highly acidic and has a high Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) due to its rich nutrient content. To ensure that the water discharged from our mills do not pollute our water systems, the discharged water undergoes a number of treatment processes to ensure that the concentration of BOD falls within safe levels. Our average BOD data for 2016, 2015 and 2014 are 75 parts per million (ppm), 63ppm and 47ppm respectively, which is well below the Our plantations also participate in a pesticide container recycling programme to ensure that receptacles that used to contain toxic materials are disposed safely and appropriately. We are also committed to the maximum utilisation of biomass waste from our mill operations, and have tasked our R&D department to find innovations that can produce high-value products or put them for good use. SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT ENVIRONMENT STEWARDSHIP