Preserving the environment

Being a major issue for Saint Louis Sucre, the preservation of our environment has benefited for many years from a strong policy and substantial investments. Saint Louis Sucre’s environmental policy is based on respect of nature and preservation of resources, by using a maximum of recycling, in particular for water. Environmental aspects are taken into account at the early stages of projects conception.

From field to plant

The agreement between Saint Louis Sucre and the beet growers foresees among others the lessening of the dirt tare (amount of dirt carried with the beets). The beets are cleaned  directly in the fields after lifting in order to avoid transporting dirt. Moreover, the use of 44-tonne lorries has made it possible to diminish significantly the distance driven to transport the beets to the plants.

Water

Protection of water has a double aim : removing no water from the natural environment and minimising water effluents by treating wastewater on all industrial sites. The water removed from beets by evaporation of the sugar- bearing juice is itself condensed and stored. The purification stations installed on sites allow effluents of pure water into rivers. Irrigation and surface spreading of water represent an appreciated service for growers in the valorisation of their land.

Air

Saint Louis Sucre’s goal is to reduce odours and greenhouse-effect gases. The installation of aerating basins (which oxygenate water recycled form beet washing) is a step in this direction. In the context of the Kyoto Protocol, industrial sites of Saint Louis Sucre are submitted to C02 emission quotas. Thanks to the efforts carried out over the past years, the quota given by the authorities to Saint Louis Sucre covers the totality of needs for the two years to come. Reduction of greenhouse-effect gases is one of the criteria for the results-related personnel profit sharing program. It requires a set of measures, declined in all factories and at all levels : rational use of heat, caloric recovery, cold spots, optimisation of electric consumption, integration of pulp heating, choice of combustible.