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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

CLEAN AIR IS ALSO AN ECONOMIC CATEGORY AND ECOLOGICAL AUDITING HELPS ONE UNDERSTAND THIS

17 March, 1998 - 00:00

Until recently Mariupol's steel-melting plant Azovstal (Azov Steel) was actually throwing money down the drain, or to be more exact, into the air through the smoke chimney. Today the situation has changed: money comes to the enterprise budget straight out of the air.

The process of changes started, when Azovstal accepted American offer to conduct an ecological audit. The checking process was controlled by Tees Van Kempen, director of US Agency for International Development on economic policy and technology with the agency's Kyiv office. It showed, that the powder, going into the atmosphere with the smoke included pure graphite, a material used in almost all sectors of industry.

With this in mind, USAID and Azovstal developed a project, according to which the plant's smokestacks were covered by special graphite-collecting filters. The project's cost totaled $200,000, of which $130,000 was secured by Azovstal. According to USAID, the plant has covered its expenses within six months after launching the project and presently makes a profit by selling the graphite to other plants. The success was so obvious that Azovstal intends to cover five other smokestacks with such filters.

Based upon American experience in environmental protection, Van Kempen reported, that managers were amazed, when they found out how much raw material is wasted simultaneously causing air pollution. Plant modernization makes it possible not only to protect the environment but also to considerably reduce production costs.

Photo by Valery Myloserdov, The Day:

We live with smog, but Azovstal has cleaned up its act and pockets good money.

 

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