For Promsa, Circular economy and sustainability are much more than a simple activity, they are an attitude. We believe that the path we are following and the growth of our business must fold around the concept of Sustainability.
The base of our activity are our origins: the people who make up the company and the natural raw materials our products are made of. Therefore, we establish and invest in mechanisms necessary to look after our human resources and to optimise the natural resources.
Our final goal is to satisfy our clients by providing them the products and services they require that best meet the trends in our environment, mainly circular economy. For this reason, we take great care of our customer service, and we align our efforts to provide a better service and offer it in the best and most sustainable way.
Research and development allow us to move forward and improve on an ongoing basis, by meeting the requirements of our clients, designing innovative solutions, while keeping in mind our social and natural environment.
PROMSA incorporates Environmental Protection in the company’s management, goals and strategies; thus, making sustainability one of its priorities. We have implemented and certified an environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001, which is assessed every year. The basis of the system is continuous improvement, where we invest in the most efficient technology available, we establish specific policies based on the efficiency for the management of waste and the consumption of energy and water.
We are aware of the need to protect our environment, our businesses feed of natural raw materials such as aggregate or water. Therefore, we have a strict performance policy on the efficient use of natural resources and the preservation of the environment.
The mortar bagging plant, in the central facilities of the Cementos Molins Group, has a photovoltaic roof. This is just one more proof of our commitment with the environment, creating a positive impact while generating renewable energies.
The environmental criteria are essential in decision-making, to make new investments, design new facilities, adapt the already existing ones and in the manufacturing process itself, in order to prevent pollution from its source.
We have our own engineering department, which allows us to work in an integrated manner in the design of our facilities and minimise the environmental impact. Manufacturing plants work with “zero landfill” system: the water used for cleaning tasks is reused in the manufacturing process of new products, always under an strict compliance of quality requirements. The diffused emission of the process itself are completely minimised thanks to, among other measures, the fairing of the process and materials transfer points, as well as efficient dust collection systems.
We have a “0 landfill” ratio of concrete waste. All concrete waste is recycled whether at our own plants or those of third parties.
PROMSA’s extractive activities, whether at quarries or gravel pits, have a Restoration Program which is the basis to re-establish the environmental order in the areas in which work is being carried out. We have gone further, since restoration becomes a key factor, not only regarding its integration into the landscape but also the regeneration of the existing Ecosystem, preserving the Biodiversity of the natural areas exploited.
Promsa’s most important quarry, which supplies most of the concrete plants, “La Falconera”, is located in the Natural Park of “Massís del Garraf”, an area environmentally protected. From 2004 to 2007 the Restoration project “Ecoquarry” was implemented, it had as its main objective to restore by imitating the surroundings and returning biodiversity, 3.5 ha were restored. Since 2016, this area is object of a project in cooperation with the University of Barcelona, financed by PROMSA, where the evolution of the restoration is studied. We are making improvements to analyse the results obtained and replicate them in other new areas to be restored.
Moreover, we cooperate with the Department of Environment of the Catalan Government, the Council of Barcelona (Natural Parks Network) in a project for the protection of endangered species, such as the Bonelli’s eagle (àliga cuabarrada) and the black wheatear (còlit negre), in order to improve their habitat thanks to the quarry restoration programs.
A sustainable construction is efficient in all the resources it uses, healthy and productive for the tenants, maximises the return on the investment in its life cycle, and through efficiency, minimises its footprint on the planet.
There are a series of international classification systems for buildings that establish specific criteria for sustainable buildings such as the following certificates: LEED, BREEM, VERDE and CRADLE TO CRADLE.
At PROMSA we have a range of Construction Ecomaterials that belong to the line PROMSA GREEN that contribute to increase the marking in these building certification systems when used.
For the Ecomaterials we manufacture and apply we have the environmental self-declarations (Ecolabelling TYPE II based on standard ISO 14021) which indicate the content of recycled residue, the regionality of the materials, later recyclability of the product and some added properties such as its long life, natural consumption reduction and minimisation of the management of waste going to landfills.
From 2007 Promsa has received a number of prizes granted by the FdA (Spanish Aggregate Federation) and the UEPG (European Aggregates Association) related to sustainability, good environmental and innovative practices.
Commitment
The people and in particular those who make up the organisation PROMSA are the most valuable asset of the company. Therefore, their safety and health are at the forefront of the efforts of the company.
We have a department that acts as our own prevention service in which we work to create a safe, cooperative and open working environment. A place where workers are part of the preventive culture of the company, continuously improving, to reach our “0 Accidents” goal. A cross-cutting job that implies everyone in the organisation.
The integration in the continuous improvement system
We work towards continuous and integrated improvement in the safety of all the production processes: in our facilities, stages of production, transport, issuance and also in the services at works, applying product.
In the development of new facilities and processes, the Prevention Department is present from the initial design stages to supervise the compliance with all the preventive measures.
The coordination of business activities
There are many people who, thanks to their specialisation, occasionally work to keep and improve our facilities. Also their safety important for us, consequently, training and information are essential elements to achieve the greatest safety for everyone.
We also have management platforms for business activities to expedite the procedures to access works, as well as to incorporate suppliers and subcontractors. This way we ensure the correct transmission of the information regarding Occupational Risk Prevention.
Innovation
Innovation, in the same way as Occupational Risk Prevention, is understood as a transversal axis of our organisation. Thanks to this approach, in 2009 we won the 1st prize on security granted by the FdA (Spanish Aggregate Federation) for the project “Safe Working Procedures in Aggregate Plants”.
This innovative project, in cooperation with the Operations and Production departments, consisted in the drafting of specific working procedures for critical tasks in Aggregate Plants. Encouraging teamwork, redesigning working tools and machines, increasing efficiency, improving the availability of the machinery, etc. All of this taking into account the safety of the employees as major factor.
In 2013, the same project was granted the 1st European Prize on Security of the UEPG (European Aggregates Association). The innovative way of participation was key to obtain the recognition of national and international bodies. Achieving the involvement of all the workers of the productive centres through open innovation groups, generating mind maps to obtain improvements and solutions and looking for the best alternative in a disruptive and divergent way was the key to ur success..
PROMSA firmly believes that companies have the duty to contribute, to the best of their ability, to improving the wellbeing and development of their interest groups and the local communities.
With this premise, we promote communication and information transparency toward the society with which we coexist, through educational projects on the environment in which PROMSA opens the doors of its different activities. As well as in the generation of quality jobs and by implementing initiatives for the development of the local community.
Social education: Project “let’s explore a quarry
The environmental policy includes the conveyance of ethical values to the future generations. For this reason, since 2007 we promote periodic visits of primary, secondary and university students to the quarry “La Falconera, Garraf” in which we explain how the quarry and the plant work. The goal of the activity is to inform and think about the importance of construction materials and become aware of how important it is to keep biodiversity.
On this basis, the Trees, Aggregates & Biodiversity Day has been celebrated annually for years. This day is celebrated every year in spring, it is an initiative of the manufacturers of aggregates, grouped in the Aggregate Federation (and in Association members such as the Gremi d’Àrids de Catalunya).
The event, visited by over 1,500 children and teenagers, has as its main goal to promote extractive activities, favour a closer society and educate children on the importance to look after and respect the environment.
Dialogue with the local community
In the centres which can have a greater impact or nuisances to the neighbours, such as the quarry “La Falconera” (Garraf, Sitges), we meet regularly with the neighbours’ representative and local authorities, to keep an ongoing dialogue to detect incidents and establish the necessary enhancements to improve the wellbeing of the community.
Cooperation with special centres
PROMSA works with various special work centres and foundations to integrate particularly vulnerable groups.
- InOut Hostel, a special employment centre which operates as a youth hostel and as a restaurant, and where nearly all the staff have a disability, most commonly intellectual.
- FEMAREC Private Foundation and CET TEGAR, subcontracting the waste collection and processing service of the production centres and subcontracting disabled personnel to carry out the environmental restoration projects in the Garraf quarry.
- Talita Foundation, which works to integrate people with intellectual disability and special education needs (children with Down's Syndrome).
- IRIS Foundation, a special local work centre through which they hire the services of people with a certain degree of disability. The collaboration is through hiring gardening services in the company’s facilities with especially sensible personnel, covered by the Law on the Social Integration of People with Disabilities (LISMI).
Sport as a Lever for Fostering Team Spirit and Solidarity
In Promsa, we believe in sport as a lever for fostering the values among our employees and for helping vulnerable groups. For this reason, we have taken part for years in the business olympics “Jocs Interempreses”: companies from different sectors participate and compete in a fun way in several sport events. The aim is to foster team spirit and solidarity, since the cost of each enrolment is donated entirely to projects run by charities.
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