Aspects such as the project design, using our own or third party resources, and the design of infrastructures and other factors, determine the amount of resources used.

Objectives are focussed towards the improvement of efficiency ratios in all areas of business. With the introduction of the Environmental Métrica tool the scope and precision of each centre has been extended. Thus, indicators relating to consumption and the generation of waste or discharges have become part of management models and decision-making processes.

Evolution of efficiency in the consumption of materials

Note(*) The 2005 and 2006 figures only consider steel consumption in projects performed entirely by the company, excluding joint ventures;therefore, a comparision between years is not meaningful.

Use of water

Water used by ACCIONA comes primarily from aquifers, surface water courses and municipal supply networks. ACCIONA rises successfully to the challenge posed by efficient water use considering the diversity of sources and the range of its business lines.

Non-hazardous waste management

Management of non-hazardous waste at ACCACCIONA Infrastructure. The absolute amount of non-hazardous waste managed at ACCIONA Infrastructure is not the most accurate indicator of the Company’s environmental performance in this area. For example, civil engineering does not generate the same amount of waste as building per unit of output. Also, situations may vary considerably and not be comparable even within the building segment, for example where a project requires a pre-existing structure to be demolished.

With a view to making waste management data comparable, ACCIONA is working to improve reporting in this area, expressing performance as a percentage according to the type of treatment. In 2008, good practices that minimised production of rubble and compliance with European, national and regional recycling and reuse regulations translated into a smaller volume of rubble being deposited at landfills.

In 2008, 7,429,341 m3 of earth was managed, as opposed to. 6,592,341 m3 in 2007; 42.7% was reused and 57.3% was disposed of in landfills. The latter figure depends directly on third-party designs for the project and its technical characteristics, which do not always allow for subsequent reuse.

Hazardous waste management

The quantity and nature of hazardous waste generated depends on the type of project and the portion of the activity which is carried out by third parties. In addition to the data for contaminated earth under Company control (i.e. earth from cleaning machinery maintenance areas, small spills collected with sepiolite and similar actions), of special note from the customer’s standpoint was the removal at two specific projects of 14,473,000 kg of contaminated earth as hazardous waste from an area which had functioned as a landfill for the past 60 years. This figure is not included in the overall calculations because it would distort the picture of the Company’s own performance.

Hazardous waste at machinery depots