Russian steelmaker OJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has implemented a Clean City strategic initiative driven, it says, by an update of the company’s environmental management system based on the recently approved Strategic Development Plan, which takes the company through to 2025.
The 2025 Strategy includes measures to improve the Air Quality Index (AQI) calculated by the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet). The plan, claims MMK, is to improve the AQI in Magnitogorsk to 7 by 2020 and 5 in 2025. Level 5 and lower is awarded to a ‘Clean City’, according to the steelmaker.
In fact, by 2025 MMK also plans to ‘meet technological requirements for environmental impact in line with the best available technologies recommended in Russia’.
According to an announcement by the company, it plans to ‘completely eliminate discharge of contaminated wastewater produced during technological processes’ and ‘maximise waste recovery’ by disposing of all waste in categories 3, 4 and 5 at environmentally safe facilities, and re-cultivate inoperative iron ore open pits and slag heaps’.
MMK claims that this is the fourth revision of its core environmental document determining the company’s core principles and goals in terms of environmental protection. It reiterates that MMK acknowledges its responsibility for environmental protection and aims to focus on the environment in order to meet the demands of current and future generations in terms of favourable environmental conditions.