2022 Sasol Sustainability Report - Book - Page 27
INTRODUCTION
SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE AGAINST OUR FOCUS AREAS
SAFE AND ENDURING OPERATIONS (CONTINUED)
Product stewardship initiatives
Responsible Care® Awards
Sasol supports alternative approaches to animal testing
Responsible Care® is a voluntary commitment by the global
chemical industry to drive continuous improvement and achieve
excellence in environmental, health, safety and security
performance. As a Responsible Care® signatory, we commit to
safe chemicals management throughout a product’s life cycle
while ensuring the chemistry contributes to society and
benefits the environment. Sasol recommitted to Responsible
Care® by signing the Responsible Care® Global Charter in
27 October 2021. During the 2021 CAIA Responsible Care Awards,
Sasol South Africa Ltd was recognised as a runner up in the
category ‘Initiative of the Year’ for two projects:
Sasol has recently joined Animal-Free Safety Assessment Collaboration
and the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing.
Sasol has joined both associations to support the important ongoing
activities with the overall goal to reduce the number of animal tests that
are currently being requested by regulatory bodies all over the world and
to increase the acceptance of alternative non-animal approaches.
PRODUCTION OF ISOPROPANOL FOR HAND SANITISERS
Ethanol, an excise-controlled product, can only be supplied
to formulators of hand sanitisers who are registered with the
South African Revenue Service (SARS) hence limiting sanitiser
production to select registered formulators in South Africa.
This posed a challenge during the pandemic. Sasol recognised
this constraint and the potential impact on South Africa and
immediately set out to formulate and manufacture denatured
blends containing isopropanol, which met SARS requirements
for distribution to make available alcohols of the right quality
in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. The priority
actions taken by Sasol South Africa served to balance the local
alcohol supply and demand scenario, serving to stabilise prices
of hand sanitisers as well as to assure the local market of the
availability of the correct blends of ethanol with isopropanol
that could be used in hand sanitiser formulations.
FEATURE STORIES
SUPPORTING LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES
WITH WATER MANAGEMENT FOR THE BENEFIT
OF FENCELINE COMMUNITIES
As a signatory to the UN Global Compact CEO’s Water Mandate
Sasol uses its Water Stewardship framework to respond to
water risks. One of the workstreams of the Mandate, is for
member organisations to focus on Water, Sanitation and
Hygiene (WASH) in communities. The focus of the Sasol
Community Affairs team in the Secunda area is supporting
host municipalities, Govan Mbeki Municipality and Dipaleseng
Municipality, in South Africa, drive WASH initiatives. The team
committed to assist these municipalities to resolve sewer
challenges which have been impacting fenceline communities.
Various activities were undertaken including pump station
repairs and upgrades, project management and entrepreneur
business development. The implementation of these projects
has resulted in reduced sewer spillages, therefore improving
the health and safety of communities.
Review and prioritisation of product stewardship key
performance metrics
Performance metrics are key to understanding a company’s health through
trend analysis to solve problem areas or unlock opportunities. Sasol Energy
Business Environmental Sustainability and Product Stewardship identified
the opportunity to be proactive and assess the current set of performance
metrics against the constantly evolving landscape. This comprehensive
exercise was executed in two parts consisting of global benchmarking
followed by a detailed analysis. A holistic, prioritised list of performance
metrics was developed, including newly identified metrics, for further
development and implementation to strengthen Sasol’s performance.
Sasol joined Action for Sustainable Development (ASD) Initiative
ASD is an initiative that brings together companies in the cosmetics,
home and personal care, and oleochemicals industries to collectively tackle
supply chain issues around palm oil and palm kernel oil derivatives.
Sasol joined ASD in 2021 and will participate in working groups to collectively
develop and implement solutions. Through this collaboration initiative,
we expect to better understand our oleochemical supply chain and continue
to gain transparency in this complex palm derivatives sector.
Operation Clean Sweep® (OCS)
Sasol, an OCS signatory, considers this voluntary international stewardship
programme an important instrument to promote and implement good
practices towards achieving zero polymer pellet, flake, and powder loss.
During 2022 we focused on embedding OCS fundamentals across our
polymer production facilities, including but not limited to the following
activities:
• education and awareness training through the development and roll-out
of an OCS e-learning module;
• new employees onboarding including OCS pledge signing;
• awareness raising through the application of OCS posters at polymer
facilities including regular OCS discussions at production meetings;
• annual site assessments to track progress and to identify opportunities;
• promote and embed use of tracking tools, procedures and incident
management;
• onboarding service providers at the Sasolburg polymer production
facility including becoming an OCS signatory; and
• mechanical upgrade to a Secunda polymer bagging discharge chute
to reduce pellet spillages ie primary containment.
SASOL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2022
26
DATA AND ASSURANCE