Emissions and impacts

Outokumpu's aim is to minimize the environmental burden of the our operations as much as is economically and technically feasible. During the last decades, we have made significant investments to minimize our environmental impacts. Environmental impacts always have to be analyzed per life span, not only by production phase. 

The most substantial environmental impacts that result from the production of stainless steel include emissions of dust and particles into the air, discharges of water from production plants, and direct and indirect energy consumption during production. Landfill waste is also created during the production process.

Our EHSQ and environmental policies form the basis of our environmental work. Our past achievements in minimizing environmental impact such as reduction of waste to landfills, world class energy efficiency, dust control, reduction of emissions to air and water and acid recycling improvements are great examples what innovative and persistent work can create.

Outokumpu's key environmental objectives are to prevent environmental incidents, to reduce emissions into water and air, to improve energy efficiency and to optimize the use of water. The enhanced use of recycled steel as raw material and the reduction of process waste are also important.

Environmental compliance and permits

Our environmental network follows closely the quarterly environmental performance of our operations, their permit status and legal compliance.

The company’s environmental network conducts internal site audits in the production units according to risk screening. In 2019, emissions and discharges were generally at normal levels within our environmental permits. All minor breaches were temporary and insignificant. Outokumpu reported each incident to environmental authorities, carried out corrective actions immediately or resolved the incidents together with the authorities. No environmental damage was reported, and there were no significant environmental incidents.

All Outokumpu production sites have environmental permits and certified ISO 14001 environment management systems. Typically, energy efficiency is integrated into environmental management systems, although many of the Group's sites have also achieved ISO 50001 certification for energy efficiency. The local supervising environment authority and independent ISO certification body are both auditing our production sites, environment permit conditions and compliance.

See our site-specific certifications.

Locations and products of Outokumpu's sites

Location   Production Products
Avesta Sweden Melting, hot rolling, cold rolling Coil and sheet
Calvert The United States Melting, cold rolling Coil and sheet
Dahlerbrück Germany Cold rolling Precision strip
Degerfors Sweden Hot rolling Quarto plate
Dillenburg Germany Cold rolling
 Coil and sheet
Fagersta Sweden Cold rolling
 Wire rod, wire
Kemi Finland Mine Chrome concentrate
Krefeld Germany Cold rolling
 Coil and sheet
Nyby Sweden Cold rolling
 Coil and sheet
Richburg The United States Cold rolling
 Bar 
San Luis Potosi Mexico Cold rolling
 Coil and sheet
Sheffield The United Kingdom Melting, hot rolling, cold rolling
 Wire rod, rebar
Tornio Finland Ferrochrome, melting, hot rolling, cold rolling Ferrochrome, coil and sheet

 

Closed sites

During recent years, Outokumpu has completed restructuring and closures of its Kloster production site in Långshyttan, Sweden and production site in Bochum and the melt shop in Krefeld, Germany. These areas have been examined or are under examination in close cooperation with the authorities and communities. In Krefeld, some areas of the melt shop site are being revegetated to exclude the potential exposure route of soil to humans. Development on the future use of closed sites is ongoing.