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Policy
CEFIC Recognizes United Portuguese Industry, Community
by Paricia L. Short
October 17, 2005
| A version of this story appeared in
Volume 83, Issue 42
RESPONSIBLE CARE
The first of what is planned to be an annual pan-European Responsible Care Award has been awarded by the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) to a group of five chemical companies with operations at a chemical complex in Estarreja, Portugal.
The companies-Air Liquide, AQP, Cires, Dow Portugal, and Quimigal-were recognized for the work they have done within PACOPAR, a multicompany community advisory panel.
The Esterreja chemical site was established more than 50 years ago just south of Oporto in northern Portugal. However, explains Joo Fernandes Fugas, chief executive officer of Quimigal, for 45 years, there were two communities-the local population and the industry, separated by mistrust and unease.
During the 1990s, the companies at the site put together various activities under the Responsible Care aegis.
In 2001, however, chemical company managers invited local citizens to a forum on turning industry and the community into good neighbors. A strategy for continuing the forum was set up, and after four years of communication and common initiatives, the delegates report that a mutual confidence climate is now installed and shared.
The people's panel set the agenda for work, not the companies, community representatives say. There was, one local man says, a lot of interaction, with us determining what we wanted and telling the companies. He adds: We have been working on this for five years. The companies have addressed our concerns so that what has happened elsewhere in the past won't happen here.
Quimigal's Fugas sees lessons for the rest of the chemical industry. We Portuguese may be far away, but we have been all over the world in the historical past. We are happy to share what we have learned and what we do. And we won't even charge for it, he quips-no royalties demanded.
MORE ON THIS STORY
Countdown To REACH Updates, debate on proposed regulations preoccupy chemical conference delegates in Europe
Responsible Care CEFIC Recognizes United Portuguese Industry, Community
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