Environment
Environmental Sustainability
Valinho invests in objective actions to harmonize the economic indicators with the preservation of the environment and to guarantee the management of effluents and solid wastes, offering the market a correct product as far as the social-environmental aspects are concerned.
Besides following all the determinations of the Normative Deliberation 49/2001 of the State Council of Environmental Policy (Copam), Siderúrgica Valinho has equipment, technologies, and processes that guarantee effective environmental management.
It has also implemented and been managing the Selective Collection Program, which promotes the collection of plastic, paper, glass, among others, which are later donated to a local association that recycles and sells the material.
Reforestation
Besides the multiplicity of uses, the eucalyptus planted forests represent a sustainable alternative to the modern world's demand for wood, preserving native forest resources. Eucalyptus provides the charcoal used in blast furnaces as a reducer (heat and energy source), contributing to the high degree of purity of pig iron.
In compliance with the forestry legislation in effect, Valinho maintains its own eucalyptus forest plantations in Minas Gerais and also participates in forest-fostering projects in the states of Bahia, Mato Grosso, and Goiás. The goal is to achieve self-sufficiency. The company works with state-of-the-art technology, using cloned seedlings to obtain high-yield forests.
Environmental Control Equipment
Valinho has in its industrial park a wide range of machines and systems to combat pollution and has environmental control equipment in several areas, especially the places where raw materials are handled and in the blast furnaces, in full compliance with environmental legislation.
Modern technologies are Valinho's allies in minimizing and even eliminating environmental impacts, among which can be mentioned:
⦁ Atmospheric Protection Systems by Sleeve Filters.
The two blast furnaces of the power plant have five anti-pollution filters. With these filters, Valinho eliminates the release of particulates into the atmosphere, allowing the release of gases generated in the production process within the parameters required by current legislation.
Waste Disposal
Based on a sustainable vision, Valinho transforms all by-products generated in its production process (slag, balloon dust, and coal fines) into raw materials and inputs for other productive activities, giving such waste the correct destination.
⦁ Slag
This is an impurity of iron ore, segregated during the production process. The byproduct has several applications, being useful mainly for the construction industry, not only as a basic raw material needed for the manufacture of cement but also as an addition in the production of concrete and mortar. Through a partnership, Valinho passes on 100% of this material to companies in the cement sector. The material is delivered at the same rate at which it is generated, without stocks being kept at the industrial park, which avoids an adverse environmental impact.