Insights
As a global leader in water solutions and services, Ecolab remains dedicated to creating a more water-secure future through smart water management, conservation, and stewardship. By 2030 we plan to achieve a Net Positive Water Impact through:
- Reducing, recycling and replenishing water at operational sites. We aim to reduce water impact by 40% per unit production across our enterprise from a 2018 base year.
- Protecting local watersheds by working to restore greater than 50% of our absolute water withdrawal volume at high-risk sites.
- Delivering outcomes through the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard by achieving AWS certification for Ecolab manufacturing sites located in high-risk watersheds.
Ecolab's manufacturing facility, located in Istanbul, Turkey, is a key contributor to these goals. The Istanbul plant is a blend plant that primarily produces industrial cleaning, sanitizing chemicals, and water treatment chemicals. Ecolab's Istanbul plant uses municipal water sourced from Ãmerli Dam Lake in the Marmara basin.
Ecolab's Istanbul facility is situated in the Marmara basin. The site treats its water to meet the necessary standards before releasing it into the municipal sewer system. Afterwards, this water travels to the Tuzla Wastewater Treatment Plant, where it undergoes further processing before being discharged into the Marmara Sea through deep-sea pipelines.
Actions
To contribute to Ecolab's enterprise water goals, the local team's objective is to reduce annual water use per ton of product by 40% from 2018 to 2030.
The following projects help improve the facility's water balance and have been implemented to reduce overall water use:
- Optimizing the reverse osmosis system by integrating a secondary unit that repurposes reject water from the primary unit, thereby reducing wash frequency.
- Minimizing changeovers and production wash cycles through collaboration with the planning team.
- Installing a mechanical sensor to eliminate flooding in the cooling towers.
