Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies is constructing a wastewater treatment plant to reduce the environmental impact of cosmetics company L'Oreal's manufacturing facilities in Asia.
The treatment plant is based on a combination of two of Veolia’s patented technologies.
Veolia describes the use of the Biothane Biobulk CSTR and Anoxkaldnes MBBR technologies as “revolutionary” and says that as a result of the new system’s installation the total CO2 emissions of the wastewater treatment plant will be reduced by 43 percent.
The companies say the plant will lead to:
The system has been designed with future expansion in mind and could, for example, be fitted with a water reclamation system which would harvest water for sanitary or cooling purposes.
"At VWS, we believe in actively pursuing strategies that deliver environmentally-conscious and innovative water technologies and solutions to meet the diverse needs of both industry and municipalities," said Yves Caouette, executive vice president, industrial marketing and global strategic accounts.
In its 2010 Sustainable Development report, L’Oreal announced it had made improvements on almost all of its environmental measures in 2010, including water consumption, carbon emissions, SO2 emissions and waste output.
The report said that the cosmetics giant had reduced water consumption per finished product by more than six percent last year, a total of 16.5 percent since 2006, while overall water consumption in its factories and distribution centers rose by just over four percent.
The biggest use of water in L’Oréal factories is for cleaning production equipment and packaging, representing about 44 percent of all water consumption at its industrial sites. To meet its water targets, the company said that it is aiming to reduce the amount of water used for cleaning without affecting quality.
