Monsanto Awarded for Sustainable Water Management

Monsanto Antwerp Site First in Flanders to Obtain a Gold-level European Water Stewardship Certificate

A first for Monsanto's Antwerp site: Monsanto is the first company in Flanders, and the first in the chemical sector in Belgium, to obtain a gold-level European Water Stewardship certificate, the highest recognition awarded. The EWS certificate, developed by the European Water Partnership, rewards the efforts of companies in the area of sustainable water management. Water management at Monsanto's Antwerp site was assessed by the independent agency Vinçotte. The certificate confirms the leadership role of Monsanto in terms of water management at the Port of Antwerp.

Sustainable water use efforts at Monsanto's Antwerp site

To obtain the certificate, the Antwerp Monsanto site, with the help of experts from Environmental Resources Management, established an exhaustive inventory of the company's water use. Monsanto then committed itself to reducing its water use in the operations of its Antwerp site. Each year, the site uses 3.5 m3millions of water and through numerous efforts, Monsanto saves at this point 1 m3millions of water in relation to 10 years ago. On top of that, Monsanto minimises the level of contaminants in the site's wastewater in order to mitigate its impact on the natural resources and drinking water extraction areas in the vicinity.

In addition, the Antwerp site recognises the need to integrate sustainable water management in its business strategy. Frank Lingier, Manager of Monsanto's Antwerp site: "We have been investing for years in reducing water consumption at the Antwerp site. The application of innovative technology makes it possible for us to use water sustainably and efficiently. The staff is also trained on the issue of sustainable water use."

The launch of new ambitious goals

At the certificate handover ceremony, the Antwerp production site expressed ambitious goals for the future. While continuing its stringent monitoring of water use, Monsanto will work to continuously improve its high standards by further reducing its water footprint. These efforts in sustainable water management will also be expanded to include the activities of contractors at the site. In addition, Monsanto aims to replace a significant amount of the water currently used with purified wastewater. This will allow the site to use water even more efficiently and further reduce its environmental footprint.

Monsanto helps farmers improve harvests while using fewer scarce resources. For the farmer, water and its availability and quality are essential inputs. Monsanto seeks to partner with various environmental experts to develop seeds and agricultural systems that use water more efficiently and are more resilient to water stress.

The Antwerp Monsanto site employs 800 people to produce chemical products for four different companies, including Henkel, Eastman and Ferro in addition to Monsanto.

Source: BusinessWire

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Taxonomy

• Sustainability
• Water Management
• Governance & Planning