Page 334 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Materials Pr oduction Industries 309

2000 a worldwide Alcoa team analyzed environmental and social
trends since 1990 and developed a 2020 Strategic Framework for
Sustainability, which has evolved into a roadmap for integrating sus-
tainability into all aspects of Alcoa’s operations. The framework is
organized around six focus areas:
1. Economic benefit
2. Respect and protect people: employees
3. Respect and protect people: communities
4. Safe and sustainable products and processes
5. Meet the needs of current and future generations through
efficient resource use
6. Accountability and governance.
Included are long-term targets and short- and long-term metrics
for each focus area that were agreed upon with business leaders and
technical experts throughout the company. These targets represent
aggressive “stretch” goals, intended to drive the organization to think
creatively. Table 17.1 shows Alcoa’s reported progress in areas 4 and
5 above, as of year-end 2007.
Alcoa’s CEO, Klaus Kleinfeld, shortly after taking the helm in 2008,
described sustainability as a cornerstone of the company culture:
Sustainability is about more than “doing good.” It is also
about smart business. At times like these, when the economy
is down, it is important to make that point very clearly. I think
too many people have looked at sustainability and issues like
climate change as separate from their business. To me, it is
critical that sustainability is an integral part of … all corpo-
rate decision making—the products we make; how we manu-
facture; who we hire; and how we work with the communities
where we operate.

Converting Wastes to Products in Brazil
One of Alcoa’s key sustainability goals is to have zero landfilled
waste by 2015. To help achieve that goal, the company has developed
a six-stage process for evaluating and commercializing its industrial
waste for reuse in other industries:

1. Develop concept
2. Feasibility and lab work
3. Benchmarks, small-scale testing
4. Pilot plant scale plus demonstration
5. Plant/reuse demonstration phase
6. Plant implementation.