Previous Winners

2007 Award winner

Drogas Vigo wins ESIG's Product Stewardship Award

Drogas Vigo, a chemical company based in Spain and Portugal, is the winner of ESIG's 6th Product Stewardship Award, designed to reward best practices in the safe use and handling of solvents. The Award ceremony took place in the framework of Cefic's Responsible Care Forum in Paris 26 october 2007.

Drogas Vigo was selected on 21 September by an independent jury of senior representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the media and trade associations. The jury faced a challenging task due to the high quality of entries. This year's selection was marked by the strong participation of Eastern European countries, which accounted for almost 30% of the total number of applications.

The jury was unanimously impressed by the strategic plan implemented by the Drogas Vigo company over the last six years. It led to the construction of a highly advanced solvents recycling unit, the use of cryogenic technology to reduce emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), and the improvement of health, safety, security and environmental standards at storage sites and at customer side. See the Drogas Vigo website.

2004 Award winners

The 5th ESIG Solvent Stewardship Awards ceremony was held on 16 November at the annual Responsible Care Conference of Cefic (European Chemical Industry Council) in Rome. Awards were presented in three categories: workplace improvement, environmental improvement and best submission from an applicant based in one of the new EU Member States.

The jury, which consisted of representatives of the European Commission (DG Enterprise), European Chemical News, the European Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (UEAPME), the European Aerosol Producers Federation (FEA) as well as the Cefic Responsible Care Director, chose the winners from submissions received from 9 countries.

See an overview of the 5th Solvents Stewardship Awards (2004) winners .

Winner - workplace improvement

• Kartoflex, which represents the Dutch cartons and flexible packaging producers, was recognized for its excellent initiative, "How to deal with solvents for cleaning in flexography and packaging gravure".
  
  See the detailed case study on this project. See the Kartoflex website.

Winner - environmental improvement

• The experience of Cognis (Ireland) Ltd, based in Cork, Irish Republic, successfully illustrates how its efforts towards HSE management improvement also make perfect economic sense.
  
  See the detailed case study on this project. See the Cognis Ireland website.

Winner - best submission from an applicant based in one of the new EU Member States.

Due to the high quality of applications, the jury decided to nominate two companies as joint winners for this category.

• PENTA a 15-year old company with 40 employees from the Czech Republic gained special recognition for its marked reduction in VOC emissions as well as in improving safety for its workforce. See the case study.
• The other winner, the Czech paints and varnish producer Balakom, won an award for the second time. The ESIG award that Balakom received in 2004 recognises the company's achievements in developing and implementing technological solutions to reduce emissions in the workplace. See the case study.

See below for detailed case studies on these projects. See the PENTA website and the Balakom website.

Previous winners

From 1999 to 2003, numerous solvent using companies, distributors and trade associations have been recognised for developing and applying product stewardship principles and promoting best practice in the use of solvents throughout the supply chain. Some highlights from past Solvent Stewardship Awards include: (read more information on the 2004 award winners - more detailed case studies on some of the following winners are available at the bottom of this page)

• Balakom (Czech Republic) http://www.balakom.cz , substituted aromatic hydrocarbons in its decorative solvent based paints products with de-aromatised solvents. This involved the replacement of sulphur-containing heavy naphtha, with a 17% aromatic content, by de-aromatised solvents, which are not classified as toxic nor are they harmful to aquatic organisms. In general, de-aromatised solvents do not have long-term adverse effects and have a three-time higher occupational exposure limit. These changes were made ahead of legislation and at the forefront of the market, which is particularly commendable for a small medium enterprise (SME).
  See the case study.
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• Brenntag (Germany) http://www.brenntag.de/ , a leading European chemical distributor, won the 2000 Solvent Stewardship Award for its professionalism in addressing responsible solvent distribution. By centralising its solvents distribution in a purpose built plant in France, the company was able to fully integrate all aspects of health, safety and environmental protection. The solvents are stored underground in double-walled stainless steel tanks, and any vapours released during loading and unloading operations are captured and recycled, reducing the emission of VOCs to the atmosphere.
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  See the case study.
• British Coatings Federation (United Kingdom) http://www.coatings.org.uk/ , won an Award in 2002 because of its broad-based support of the coatings industry in all aspects of solvents management. BCF's Coatings Care continuous improvement programme includes: the Environmental Management Code and Guidance process which enables benchmarking and solvent reduction planning; the Community Liaison Code and Guidance documents which address neighbourhood and local issues; and the BCF's Guidance on Housekeeping and Spills package, which gives advice on prevention and control of spills and also measures to take if accidents should happen. The BCF also produces a CD-ROM-based SafetyNet program that addresses safety in the workplace, including flammable liquid handling and solvent categorization and risk assessment.
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  See further information.
• Campi y Jove (Spain) http://www.cyjsa.com/ , a solvents distributor and winner of the 2002 award for Site Improvement. In 1997, the company started a process to achieve the highest possible development level within the solvents market and to handle and distribute solvents more safely. The plan included building facilities that went far beyond current regular standards with respect to environment and health and creating a team responsible for updating the entire supply chain on the best ways to handle solvents safely. It also included regular visits to advise customers on the latest safety regulations regarding solvents handling, and providing regular training courses to their main suppliers. See application form
  
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• Dow Corning (Belgium) http://www.dowcorning.com/ , a speciality chemicals producer, which uses toluene and aliphatic hydrocarbons in its production of silicone-based paper coatings and defoamers. The company improved production schedules and implemented novel cleaning procedures to sharply reduce solvent waste originating from the cleaning operations required between the manufacture of different types of end product.
  See the case study.
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• Englender (United Kingdom), a furniture manufacturer that invited external experts to review their procedures in the use of adhesives, before commissioning trials with seven spray-gun manufacturers and selecting the design or equipment which had the best transfer efficiency and the lowest waste. Spray-gun cleaning fluid can now be recycled up to three times before removal from the site for distillation and recovery.
  See Case Study.
• Intergraf (pan-European) http://www.intergraf.org , the European Printing Federation, in conjunction with the European Graphical Federation (EGF), published an outstanding set of guidelines on printing, the Environment and Best Available Techniques (BATs). Intergraf brought together an international network of experts to share their knowledge, thereby providing a highly comprehensive set of guidelines. See the case study.
  
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• Irotec (Ireland) - now Cambrex Cork Ltd. http://www.cambrex.com/Content/About/Locations.class.182 , the overall winner of the first Solvents Stewardship Awards (1999) is a pharmaceuticals ingredients manufacturer whose factory improvements, including the installation of abatement equipment, led to reduced solvent handling and fugitive emissions, and significant reduction in the on-site storage of drums. See the case study.
  
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• Jowat (Germany) http://www.jowat.de/en/index , produces solvent-based adhesives for applications in the upholstery and foam mattress industry. Jowat identified the risk that, during the application of adhesives, sparks resulting from static discharges could cause the upholstery and the foam on which they were being used to catch fire. To eliminate this risk, Jowat formulated an adhesive with increased solids content. The required viscosity was maintained, allowing the glue to be applied with precision as a spray and thus keeping emissions to a minimum. Jowat therefore ensured that the risk of flammability in the industrial application could be reduced to a level comparable with water-based adhesives with no compromise to the superior quality afforded by solvent-based adhesives.
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  See Case Study.
• SOPPEC (France) http://www.soppec.com/, designed and constructed a new production site for the formulation, manufacture and packaging of special aerosol paints. The plant was designed to ensure minimum impact on the environment and on the health and safety of employees and the local community. Solvents are recycled and cleaned, with emissions kept to a minimum. Amongst other safety considerations, SOPPEC has installed fire and gas detection systems, video surveillance equipment and specially designed safety caps for aerosols.
  See the case study.
  
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• Sun Chemical (United Kingdom) http://www.sunchemical.com/ , an inks manufacturer, which developed new testing procedures and cost-effective solutions to monitor and reduce VOC emissions.Their efforts brought about a seven-fold decrease in emissions. See the case study.
  
• Wictor (Italy) http://www.wictorgroup.it/ , a producer of adhesives for shoes, leather and furniture, which developed new cryogenic condensation techniques to collect spent solvent vapours for reuse in polychloroprene adhesive formulations. The process enables recovery of nearly 100% of emitted VOCs. See the case study.

For more information on any of the above initiatives, please contact the who can provide you with direct company contact details.