EXPLOSIVES WASTE REDUCED

In terms of South Africa’s National Explosives Act, any waste that enters an explosives area is considered explosive and may only be disposed of by burning. In the past, it meant all process and non-process waste at AEL Intelligent Blasting in Modderfontein was transported to the burning ground for open air destruction. This resulted in heavy smoke that contained dust, nitrous oxide and nitrogen dioxide.

Subsequent to the successful implementation of a Going Green project, AEL has managed to:

Recover R60 000 from packaging recycling (excluding packaging for reuse)

• Recycle over 55 tonnes of packaging

• Recycle all non-explosives plastic waste (eg. 23 000kg of tubing)

• Reduce explosive waste being burned by 40%

• Reduce dust, heavy smoke and nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions

• Reduce paraffin use (at the burning ground)

To support the project, AEL acquired different coloured bins, cages and skips to facilitate waste separation. The Cordex, Extrusion and Pentolite plants also introduced a new task of decanting packaging material, solely for waste separation and avoiding contamination. Additional personnel were allocated accordingly.