Brazil Steel Institute

Gerdau makes continuous investments in improving its ecoefficiency practices and in protection technologies for the air, water and soil. The company invested R$ 201 million in 2008 in environment-related initiatives.

Through a well-structured Environmental Management System, the Company manages all environmental aspects within its production chain, comprising from the acquisition of raw materials to the final product and the destination of byproducts.

The largest recycler in Latin America, Gerdau transformed 16 Mt of iron scrap into steel in 2008. Steel production from scrap is a fully sustainable process, as it helps to reduce the amount of materials disposed in landfills, reduces energy and water consumption as well as waste generation.

Gerdau has modern dust removal systems to control atmospheric emissions of its steel mills. These systems aim to treat gases generated during the steelmaking process, turning the retained material into byproducts, which are exploited by other segments of the industry.

Water re-usage levels at Gerdau reached 97.5% in 2008. Therefore, only 2.5% of the water resources are impounded externally, mainly due to evaporation losses.

In addition, the expansion and maintenance of green belts with native species and the maintenance of legal and permanent preservation reserves in the surrounding areas of the industrial plants contribute for the protection of biodiversity. In a total 18.9 thousand ha of Company land, 2.4 thousand ha comprise legal or permanent preservation reserves and 8.7 ha comprise native forest. These initiatives are complemented by community relations works developed by the Gerdau Institute.

Gerdau believes that the development of business actions is what allows the continuous development of communities. Thus, the social projects it develops aim to involve companies, the public power and civil entities, so as to best exploit the investment made, grant long-term sustainability to the initiatives and stimulate volunteer work, encouraging solidarity and knowledge transfer among people.