Public Environmental Policy

Abrasec AB strive to conduct its business in a sustainable way. We aspire to zero harm and continuous improvement in our performance, to meet global goals for sustainable development (Agenda 2030).

To achieve this Abrasec AB will:

Encourage employee and business partners to take environmental consideration in everything they do, as well as driving initiatives to work with continues improvements.
Comply with relevant laws and regulations.
Use targets, reports and data analysis to assist in improving performance.
Develop and maintain a management system that strives to comply with ISO14001.
Promote the concept of environment as core values, and as one of our major priorities.
Continually improve our processes, products and services, while paying attention to long-term profitability and sustainable development.

Review;

The policy is reviewed once per year and in consultation with Abrasec Stakeholders. Last review was January 2024.

Signed CEO – Mats Olshammar

Scope

Arbrasec AB is an importer and has no manufacturing. The scope for Abrasec AB is therefore to limit environmental impact during storage, repackaging and transportation, and also to limit the need to travel by car or airplane to visit customers and suppliers.

The scope is also to convince customers to use alternative products that are more environmentally friendly and encourage suppliers to provide such alternatives.

This shall be an ongoing process and shall be evaluated annually.

General

The main volume of products are desiccants like Silica Gel, Molecular Sieves, Bentonite Clay and Activated Alumina. The risk associated with these products is dust that can cause lung problems. It’s therefore important that storage and handling is done to prevent breathable dust.

Some storage containers for desiccants are made of metals with different surface treatments. Some of the older surface treatments are being phased out, as they are not environmentally friendly.

In some of the breather valves are smaller parts made of alloys with small amounts of lead. They are still legal to use, but alternatives will be investigated for the future.

There’s also a small volume of imported Humidity Indicators. The most common version of these are paper cards impregnated with the salt Cobalt-dichloride, a colour that’s blue when dry and pink when wet. This chemical is still allowed to use, but it’s listed on an EU observation list and may get banned in the future. The main problem is when the salt comes into water and it’s not good for aquatic life. These products are therefore stored and shipped in water tight packages, to prevent any leakage during shipping or storage. The long term solution will be to replace these products. Abrasec AB is therefore communicating with suppliers and customers to see if suitable alternatives can be used instead.

Travel and transportation by air should only be made after other alternatives have been considered and ruled out. Travel by car should be limited and the choice of car should be ECO-friendly.

Environmental aspects

The Abrasec AB business of storage, repackaging and transporting is only a limited part of the environmental aspects for these products. More focus should therefore be placed on the environmental aspects during production and use of these products. It’s therefore important to have this dialogue with both customers and suppliers.

Compliance obligations

Abrasec AB will comply with relevant laws and regulations.

Environmental objectives

The environmental objective is to have an ongoing process to limit harm to the environment and to use environmentally friendly alternatives when available.

Competence

Mats Olshammar will have the main responsibility to make sure the Abrasec AB has the right competence and keep up to date on these issues. Note also that in the board of Abrasec AB is Mikael Olshammar who is a senior environmental consultant at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Communication – General

This policy will be made public at www.abrasec.com so it’s easy to access for external partners, customers and suppliers. This policy will also be communicated internally and all updates will also be communicated.

Documented information – General

Relevant documentation is stored for easy and safe access.

Operational planning and control

Operational planning and control are scheduled for Q1 each year. Extra planning and control will be made if regulations change or new information is revealed.

Emergency preparedness and response

MSDS documents are available for these product and Abrasec AB has planned response in case of emergency. These desiccants are rather harmless and the most common response mentioned in the MSDS documents is rinse your eyes with water if you get dust in them.

Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation – General

As a distributor of chemical products, we collect and report statistics on the amount of chemicals we handle. We also make sure that these products are stored properly, are packed properly and are correctly labelled.

Evaluation of compliance

Evaluation of compliance is scheduled for Q1 each year.

Internal audit programme

The board member Mikael Olshammar will handle the internal audit program and will inform Staffan Käck on status and instruct Mats Olshammar on improvements to be done.

Management review

CEO Mats Olshammar is responsible for management review and will sign this policy after each annual review.

Non-conformity and corrective action

Non-conformity shall be noted and written down, and corrective actions shall be scheduled and followed up.

Agenda 2030 – UN Global Compact

We support the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and comply with the 10 principles listed.

Human Rights

PRINCIPLE 1: Support and respect international human rights in the sphere of corporate influence
PRINCIPLE 2: Ensure that their own companies are not involved in human rights violations

Labor Law

PRINCIPLE 3: Maintain freedom of association and recognize the right to collective bargaining
PRINCIPLE 4: Eliminate all forms of forced labour
PRINCIPLE 5: Abolish child labour
PRINCIPLE 6: Eliminate discrimination in terms of recruitment and work

Environment

PRINCIPLE 7: Support the precautionary principle regarding environmental risks
PRINCIPLE 8: Take initiatives to strengthen greater environmental awareness
PRINCIPLE 9: Encourage the development of environmentally friendly technology

Anticorruption

PRINCIPLE 10: Combat all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery.