COMPANY

Environment

Introduction

The concern about the environment has always been inserted in Santa Cruz activities. There has always been a work along with the employees about the awareness on the use of the technology and available resources so that the productive process does not harm the environment.

The investment in equipment and non polluting techniques are applied in every area of the productive process - since 1982, in the industrial area equipment able to separate the solid part of the smoke have made the whole process less pollutant.

In the agriculture the application of herbicides and other products is strictly controlled so that it does not harm streams or pollute rivers. The burnings that allow the manual cut of the sugar cane are slowly being eliminated with the implementation of mechanic harvesting. This, although, must be conducted in a slow and controlled manner since the jobs offered by this practice represent a large number of employees.

The appropriated use of water is another concern of the company. Residual water has their elimination controlled by our own legislation and are employed for irrigation once the chemicals and organic contents help the growth of the sugar cane. This work is part of the increasing of the quality of the company, which also allows economy of potable water.

Reforestation is another priority for the company. The new plants grown in our own greens houses or from other origin reinforce old uses from the company, always concerned to the environment preservation. A major example of this is the cultivation of native species of trees, used for repair the riverside forests, the preservation of the banks of the surrounding rivers and streams and all of the permanent preservation areas. During the last eight years Santa Cruz has planted over 150,000 threes in its influence area.

For this purpose, new trees, many of them rare such as Pau Brasil and Jacaranda are planted. Part of the annual production is used in the reforestation areas on the company’s farms and the surplus is supplied to partners and also to institutions related to the environment that also plant new areas.

NBR ISO 14001

EEC - Environmental Education Center

Among the factors involved in the improvement of people’s life quality is the environmental education process. According to experts in environmental education, there must be clear rules concerning the man in his relationship to the environment. These are vital rules because men is a natural being but at the same time a potential aggressor and the preservation of living entities and of the environment constituents is of total importance for the human survival.

It can be concluded that to keep the quality of life and even life on earth all the societies must change radically their relationship to the environment. And the environmental education is the key to make adults and children a bit more aware of our planet’s needs.

Environmental education is a constant awareness process. People need to learn to change the demands towards the environment. To achieve that daily routine activities have to be more and more emphasized such as saving electric energy so that there is no need to construct new plants for its production; recycling so that new trees do not have to be cut and raw materials explored or make better use of food so that new land do not have to be used to grow food and so on.

Our hope is that through environmental education we can reach and awareness level, a commitment and balance towards the environment preservation, of the sustainable development and mainly people’s life quality can be kept.

Santa Cruz S.A. Sugar and Alcohol is implementing its Center for Environmental Education Antonio Pavan (CEE), broadening its dynamic participation and conscious use of natural resources, the preservation of the environment and its actions focused on the social responsibility to the community in which it is inserted.

Using theme rooms where subjects such as solid residues, recycling water, air, soil, renewable energies, biodiversity, sugar cane, environmental control, nurseries where native trees are grown, orchards, vegetables, medicinal plants, orchids, interpretative track, reforestation and geoplasm bank are emphasized, the EEC aims to aggregate fundamental information for the understanding of the relationship between man and nature.

Inserted in a 23 hectare area, the CEE provides many inter-related activities that have as main goal the improvement of the environmental knowledge of who takes part in it.

Environment Education Center and its theme rooms

Interpretative Track Entrance

Students visiting the Interpretative Track

Students in the water theme room

Credits of the Photos of the item See also
Henrique José dos Santos

Santa Cruz S/A

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Environment