Corporate responsibility

Protecting the Environment is of core importance to Vlisco. Not only because Vlisco has an legal and morale obligation to society but also to justify in the long term the continuation of the business at hand, which has existed for over 160 years.

Vlisco is dedicated to limiting the negative impact on the environment as a result of their production activities. This dedication manifests itself in the improvement in environmental performance and through implementing strict controls and directives. Just as in the other company departments, measurable goals are given to improve environmental performance. Controls, analyses and regular reports are made to provide clear transparency in how the company is performing with regard to the set environmental goals.
Vlisco Helmond B.V.: Environmental Policy Statement

Vlisco Helmond B.V. (Vlisco) is a textile finishing company where, in particular, cotton fabrics of varying qualities are printed with colourful designs. The printed fabrics are sold in Europe (20%) and in approx. thirty African countries (80%). Vlisco forms part of Gamma Holding N.V., a listed company in the Netherlands.

The production processes and support activities are carried out in such a way that a degree of environmental impact is unavoidable. The management of Vlisco hereby declares that, in carrying out its business operations, their Environmental Policy forms a full and integral part of its business policy. The Vlisco management has overall responsibility for Vlisco’s Environmental Policy. The heads of each production sector are held responsible for the execution of this Environmental Policy. More specifically this means that:
• VLISCO will, as a minimum, meet the statutory requirements & regulations with respect to environmental policy and where possible actively improve upon these.
• VLISCO strives, in a sustainable, socially responsible and preventative manner, to control and reduce the environmental impact which results from its activities.
• VLISCO aims to maintain a good relationship with its surroundings, the community and other interested parties, and communicate with these parties in an active and open manner.
• VLISCO strives to structure its management of quality, health & safety at work and environmental issues in a broadly supported, integrated environmental management system. In terms of environmental management, this is based on the internationally recognized standard: ISO 14001:2004.
• VLISCO strives towards continual improvement in its environmental performance.
• VLISCO will periodically quantify, whenever required, its environmental performance in an objective manner and publish this in an acceptable fashion, in line with industry norms.
• VLISCO aspires to a realistic level of ambition, taking into consideration its impact on the environment and its position in the national industrial field.
• VLISCO implements its Environmental Policy through setting challenging and focused objectives. The realisation of the objectives takes place through the implementation of a business environment plan (BEP). This is published every four years, but each year environmental programmes and goals are defined per production sector in the company.

In the current BEP3 period, which runs from 2006 to 2010, the specific Environmental Policy and the environmental objectives focus primarily on:
• Certification and preservation of the environmental management system in conformity with ISO 14001:2004
• Ongoing improvement of energy efficiencies:
- Vlisco for Energy: technical and organisational investigations with respect to energy consumption
- Rationalisation /optimisation of processes (such as the eradication of the cooling process)
• Water management and measures with respect to the discharge of harmful substances, alkalinity (pH), decolourisation and water consumption
• Implementation of the soil remediation programme
• Sewage management (testing, inspection and maintenance)
• Substance legislation (REACH, availability of substances, substitution of environmentally harmful substances, information provision and strategic decisions with respect to the position of Vlisco)
• Elimination of justified complaints from the surrounding environment (odour and noise)
The management of Vlisco Helmond B.V. is committed to pursuing effective communication within the organisation with respect to the environmental management system. They are committed to recognising, maintaining and executing the obligations as defined within the Environmental Policy.

All employees within the organisation are responsible for the implementation of the Environmental Policy and the activities as described in the environmental management system, in his or her own area of work.

The management of Vlisco Helmond B.V. is committed to pursuing effective communication within the organisation with respect to the environmental management system. They are committed to recognising, maintaining and executing the obligations as defined within the Environmental Policy.
Company Environmental Policy

In 2006, in the third Environmental Policy, Vlisco established directives as to the current status of the technical installations. This meant that the potential technical opportunities and improvements were to be limited in order to reduce the potential negative environmental impact. Further cost-effective, improvements of existing technical installations would result in limited environmental benefit and thus have not been undertaken.
Environmental Covenant

The ‘Unified Textile Industry in the Netherlands’, of which Vlisco is a member, signed a covenant on behalf of all the member companies. In this covenant, there is an environmental task framework provided dated from 1985. For the year 2010, there are directional objectives provided. The individual companies must translate these into concrete directives to be included in their Environmental Policy, which is then valid for a period of four years.
The environmental pollution has fallen since the signing of the covenant.

In comparison to the competition, Vlisco is doing exceedingly well on tackling Environmental issues. This can been proven for example, by looking at the Energy efficiency benchmark, which can prove that a company is amongst the best performers globally in terms of energy consumption. If you look at the directional objectives established by the covenant for 2010, Vlisco has for the most part already achieved these objectives. The industry and covenant has been sleeping in recent times and there has been no demand for a third company Environmental Policy. Despite this, Vlisco has pro-actively continued with their third Environmental Policy in partnership with the Government. Vlisco has been asked by the Government not only to implement the Environmental Policy but to undertake researches and further directives such as soil sanitation & soil protection
Sustainable developments

Vlisco Helmond bv is determined to participate in creating a sustainable society. In the 1990s this gained structure in the form of a partnership with the Government. This has in turn led to environmental improvements. The Environment needs to be placed in broader context according to Vlisco. This means that for example lower energy consumption can outweigh social and economic improvements. Vlisco wants to analyse all the alternatives open to them in order to achieve this. In 2008, a research project will be undertaken to analyse long term, sustainable opportunities for Vlisco. Vlisco shall perform a life cycle analysis internally to determine where the greatest environmental benefits are to be achieved. This will result in identifying how the product and production processes can be improved in an environmental context.
Environmental pollution

Air
The general goals in terms of the prevention of air pollution are as follows:
• Limit the diffusion of tri-emissions
• Meet the requirements of the NeR.
The main challenge is to reduce the diffusion of tri-emissions. There is a control system for all activities that involve working with tri-emissions and where potential emissions could occur. The system allows for regular tri-emission measurements per group of machines to take place and to detect leaks. The measurement results determine the frequency of the measurements. In this way, those machines most likely to emit tri-emissions can be continually tracked.
Following complaints in 2004 and 2005 about foul smells, Vlisco implemented a biocide treatment at the gas purifier, with the approval of the Water board. This solved the foul smell problem and now we have virtually no complaints.

Water
The primary goals are the following:
• Reduce the use of processed water.
• Reduce the draining of “thin water”.
• Improve the quality of waste water.
Through research there have been several discoveries. For example, it was discovered that the pH of the waste water was relatively high and significant fluctuations were evident as a result of the drainage from the ‘Bleach Department’. Buffering the waste water is a potential solution but a decision has not yet been made until full consultation with the water board has taken place.
We are also working on reducing the amount of drained “thin”, waste water. This has resulted in a decrease in the specific water usage of 14%. However, there are even more savings options identified that will be implemented in the coming future. This must lead to a decrease of 25% in this specific water usage by 2010.
In order to support and manage the above activities there is a Water Management system in operation.

Noise
The general goals are as follows:
• Meet legal requirements
In the BMP-3, it is stated that Vlisco currently meets their obligations with relation to noise pollution. There is therefore not specific noise directive specified.
Environmental directives for external safety

The main goals are as follows:
• Meet legal requirements
During the drafting of the BMP-3, it was established that Vlisco meets all the relevant directives in the area of external safety (CPR/PGS, BRZO & BEVI/REVI). There are therefore no directives specified.
Energy Consumption

The main goals are as follows:
• Further improvement in energy efficiency.
• Remain one of the top energy efficient companies worldwide. (participant of the Benchmark Covenant)
The overall directive aims to reduce energy consumption by 30%. There are 17 specific energy directives in total in the BMP-3. A few of these directives have already been implemented and have resulted in a reduction of energy consumption by approx. 9% so far. The remaining directives are currently being implemented.
Substances

The main goals are as follows:
• Eliminate black listed substances
• Substitute potentially harmful substances for less harmful substances
• Reduce total use of harmful substances

There are 5 directives given and now started in order to achieve these goals. Over time, the dissolvable trichloroethylene will be eliminated totally. To facilitate this, several research projects are underway to facilitate the future tri-less production process. Given the complexity of this substance, this project will take several years before there is a conclusion and thus recommendations that can be implemented.


On behalf of the management team

J. van der Meij
Managing Director Vlisco Helmond B.V.