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When we are dealing with the ecological aspects of our Responsible Care principles, we are not afraid to dig deep. Because we want to eliminate any danger to humans and the environment that might be caused by contaminated areas at our sites that are a legacy of the past.
Hachioji
- a city of more than 500,000 inhabitants, is located on the outskirts
of the Japanese capital Tokyo. Traditionally known as an important
center of Japan's textile industry, Hachioji is now growing into
an academic area and a high-tech industrial city due to its favorable
location. The former production site of our subsidiary Nihon Bayer
Agrochem (NBA), originally set up in 1942 in a rural area, meanwhile
lies in a residential area of this city. Today, only a single street
separates peoples' homes from the site, where until 1992 NBA manufactured
crop protection agents. The site was then closed down as the company
concentrated all its production activities at another site. The
detailed soil investigation of the site, for possible contaminants
prior to offering the site for sale, revealed that part of the site
was contaminated with inorganic mercury. Fortunately, extensive
tests carried out by independent agencies showed that only inorganic
mercury compounds were present and no mercury had leached from the
soil into the groundwater. In
line with our Responsible Care principles, the Bayer subsidiary
decided to remediate the soil on its own initiative. Around 66,000
cubic meters of excavated soil were thermally treated, with mercury
being extracted. After this had been done, the soil was filled back
within the site. To perform this operation the company installed
an on-site thermal treatment plant, which was operated around the
clock for 29 months. Thanks to this integrated concept, the contaminated
soil was handled entirely on site. All waste gas discharged by the
plant was monitored continuously. A whole range of measures was
taken in addition to ensure that the surrounding area was not put
at risk by the work and to keep noise and shock disturbance to a
minimum. In close consultation with the local authorities, regular
environmental monitoring was conducted on the site boundary to guarantee
that all safety measures were working properly. All the results
were well below the statutory thresholds.
In
executing such a large scale environmental project, appropriate
communication with the parties involved is of great significance.
Various efforts were made to keep the neighbors informed throughout
the execution period. Information meetings for the residents were
held at the site to give detailed explanations of the outline of
the project and safety during execution. Furthermore, a monthly
newsletter was distributed to keep them updated on the progress
of the project and to inform them of the results of environmental
monitoring. This Responsible Care project was completed at the beginning
of 2001 with total costs of about € 75 million. From waste dump to a park on the Rhine Dealing with another contaminated site has been a much more expensive undertaking: the Leverkusen Dhünnaue rehabilitation project, which has been presented in earlier reports.
Around
6.5 million metric tons of waste was dumped on this former Rhine
flood plain between 1923 and the 1960s. Ten percent of this waste
was made up of production residues from our nearby production site,
and the aim of the landfill was to protect the village of Wiesdorf,
now part of Leverkusen, from flooding. This took place in agreement
with Leverkusen Council. Once the landfill site was complete, part
of it was used for farming. In the 1950s Leverkusen Council built
250 rental apartments and an old people's home on another part of
the site. In the 1960s a motorway was constructed through the area,
and the Leverkusen West junction was opened on it in 1972. Once
the potential for damage from the disused waste site became known
at the end of the 1980s, the municipal and state authorities joined
forces with Bayer to devise a comprehensive rehabilitation plan.
One thing was immediately obvious: digging up the whole of the site,
as in Hachioji, was not an option. After consulting experts, the
people in charge decided to build a massive retaining wall about
four kilometers long and up to 38 meters deep to separate the entire
contaminated site from its surroundings and to seal the surface
effectively. This was to prevent surface water from penetrating
the site and stop contaminated groundwater already in the site from
leaching out. All the homes in the contaminated zone were torn down
and their inhabitants relocated.
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