Nyrstar is the only producer of zinc in the Netherlands. Given its hydrometallurgical processes, it is a major consumer of water. The company sources a portion of its water from Evilim, which takes water for this purpose from the nearby Zuid-Willemsvaart. Its contract with Evilim was recently renewed. This was a conscious decision that fits in with Nyrstar's wish to continue making its business operations more sustainable.
Nyrstar Budel is a subsidiary of the Nyrstar group, which operates on a global scale. The company has around 460 employees and produces around 290,000 tonnes of zinc every year. It has been based in Budel-Dorplein, in the south-east of the province of North Brabant, for over 120 years. The company feels a sense of responsibility towards the valuable area of nature that it borders on. ‘We obtain the majority of our process water from the ground,’ reveal Group Real Estate Manager Harry Denis and Senior Environmental Technician Sebastiaan Morre from Nyrstar Budel. ‘The groundwater from the first aquifer is contaminated. We treat it before and after use and then return it to nature. Then we extract groundwater from a lower level. This layer in particular has an impact on the nature in the surrounding environment. The reason we procure a portion of our process from Evilim is to protect the groundwater level. In doing so, we are looking ahead to the future.’
Collaboration
Evilim extracts water for Nyrstar from the Zuid-Willemsvaart and treats it in accordance with the company’s requirements and wishes. The quality of the water can be lower than drinking water due to the purpose it will be used for. Denis and Morre believe that ‘drinking water is a scarce commodity that we need to manage carefully. The fact that drinking water is more expensive is not the deciding factor. Process water is not one of the expensive cost items for our company.’
Evilim's canal water fits in with Nyrstar's broader strategy of sustainability. Together with the municipality of Cranendonck, the province of North Brabant, and the Eindhoven Regional Partnership, the company is one of the partners in the Cranendonck Sustainable Industrial Park (DIC). The DIC is adjacent to Nyrstar's premises and is intended for companies that work in the fields of metal and energy. ‘We explicitly aim to collaborate and to use each other's facilities, energy and treatment techniques,’ say Denis and Morre. ‘That's why Evilim is such a good partner for us. Evilim plays its part in finding solutions and technologies that reduce our impact on nature and the environment. That's also the reason why we want to continue our pleasant collaboration.’
