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In addition to protecting the environment, the primary aluminum
industry is concerned with the sustainable development of the communities
where it operates. From initiatives in favor of recycling, to conducting
IT courses, many are the actions this industry develops. See some of the
most relevant projects of companies in the primary aluminum production
chain:
Albras - Recycling life itself
This project started at Vila dos Cabanos, in
Barcarena, head offices of Albras in the
state of Pará.
In 1990, the company, using its own resources,
opened a unit for the recycling and composting
of urban garbage. The organic compost becomes
a natural fertilizer for use in agriculture. Other
materials - plastic,
paper, cans and bottles - are forwarded to recycling.
People
that depended, in the past, from scavenging
food and materials at the old city dump
started to have a new income option.
The "scavengers" are
also welcome to other initiatives, such as
adult literacy and computer courses.
The success of this first action led
Albras to seek a loan from BNDES and implement similar
units in Moju, Abaetetuba, Igarapé-Mirim
and Cametá, all of these locations in the state
of Pará. The project generates over 180 thousand
jobs and improves the sanitation conditions
of 200 thousand people.
Novelis - Social and Environmental responsibility
in schools
Novelis is betting in educational programs in
schools to make generations aware of social
and environmental responsibility. The project "Society
of Tomorrow" was
implemented in 1998 in schools located
in Pindamonhangaba (SP) and in 2000 in Candeias
(BA). Approximately 17 thousand students
of the first to fourth grade of elementary
school in municipal schools as well as in
private schools are taught basic concepts of environment
and recycling, in addition to ethics and citizenship.
Novelis
believes that teachers are very important
agents in the change of society. Therefore,
the work starts with teachers' training to
become these agents that multiply this knowledge.
In total 750 teachers participate in the project in
Bahia and in São
Paulo.
MRN - Health care for "quilombo" dwellers
To support health care for the communities that
remain from "quilombos" located at the banks of the
Trombetas river, west of the state of
Pará.
This is the major goal of the program
developed by Mineração Rio do Norte
(MRN). Health care covers around 1,600
people of the communities Moura, Jamari,
Tapagem, Sagrado Coração,
Mãe-Cué, Palhau, Juquiri and Juquirizinho - all
of them located at Alto Rio Trombetas,
left bank tributary of the Amazon river.
Since
1997, monthly, a boat equipped with medical
resources and a team made up of one physician
and nurses serves the communities. This service includes
medical consultations and laboratory
tests; home visits in serious cases; development
of awareness in the communities, students and teachers
of the local school by means of presentations on
personal care, prophilaxy of diseases like AIDS and
Sexually Transmissible Diseases (STDs), basic sanitation,
etc.
Alcoa - Incentive to volunteer work
Bravo! Program, encourages volunteer work,
and each employee that completes 50 hours of
volunteer work in a year, receives US$ 250 to
donate to the institution where he/she worked. The
program covers Alcoa employees worldwide and there
is no limit for the number of donations distributed - all
employees that complete the established number
of hours receive that amount to donate.
In Brazil , around 50%
of the employees adopted the program.
450 institutions were benefited. As the program was
so successful, Alcoa decided to create in 2004 the
new program "Bravo!
Brasil",
to encourage the participation of interns,
as well. Each intern that completes 40
hours of volunteer work in the same institution during
their own time, receives from Alcoa Institute a donation
of R$ 275,00 to transfer to the entity.
Companhia Brasileira do Alumínio - Orchestra in a poor community and environment
protection
Since 2001, Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio
(CBA) has sponsored a program of music
schools in Heliópolis (SP), headed by Conductor Silvio
Baccarelli. CBA funds the needs of the
orchestra, which consists of 30 adolescents, and of the collective
instrumental classes, with the participation
of 52 youngsters. The groups perform pieces from great
composers such as Bach, Vivaldi, Haendel
and Villa-Lobos, in addition to Brazilian folk songs and children's
songs.
In addition to this support, CBA sponsors
educational activities for children in elementary
schools located in the municipality of Alumínio
, in the state of São Paulo . Students have
the opportunity to visit CBA's plant, where
they watch a theater play on environmental
protection and get to know the company's environmental
projects. In addition, a visit is offered to the areas
of permanent protection and to the plant nursery,
used for reforestation.
Alumar - Education in the rural area
Through the investments made by Alumar and
by the State Government, the first school was
built in São Luís, state of Maranhão
was made possible by the investment made by Alumar
and of the Government of the State of
Maranhão. The "Professor Mário Martins
Meireles" High
School can minister to 1.2 thousand students,
in three shifts. The institution is located
in the village of Mangue Seco - Pedrinhas
and serves, additionally, the neighboring
communities of Coqueiro, Quebra Pote,
Itapera, Vila Maranhão
and Vila Nova República,
among other communities.
Ten classrooms, laboratories, libraries,
auditoriums and other facilities have been
build up with the R$ 1,2 million investment of Alumar.
These resources were also used to improve
the administrative structure - clerical
offices, management and coordination facilities.
The state government is in charge of
operational, maintenance and administrative
management, as well as administration of
human resources and teaching system.
Alunorte - Sustainability in rural communities
Alunorte - Alumina do Norte do Brasil -, in one
of its many social responsibility initiatives,
endeavored to improve the quality of life
of 700 families in six communities located
in Barcarena (PA), developing a self-sustainable
project. The dwellers that adhered to the
program "Barcarena
of the Future" were
trained to exercise activities like fowl
raising, crafts and agriculture. The production
activities generate revenues and opportunities
for professional development.
Aviaries and seedling
nurseries were built, a tractor and a truck were purchased
and a building for crafts production was erected.
The company invested approximately R$ 2 million in
the project, that was considered outstanding by the
2001 Guide for Good Corporate Responsibility issued
by the Magazine Exame.
Valesul - Bets on Volunteer Work
By means of the Valesulvoluntária, name
of the social responsibility program
of Valesul, the company, located in Rio de Janeiro , delivered
to the City Authorities the day care
center Mãos
Pequenas, located in Santa Cruz . The
construction covers 436 square meters and holds nurseries, recreation
rooms, kitchen, milk dispenser and bathrooms,
all of them specially designed for children ranging from
0 to 4 years of age. This model-day care
center cost approximately R$ 350 thousand and helped to mitigate
the lack of resources found in the communities
around the plant.
In addition to this work, the program carries
out five important projects: Amigos do Verde
(Friends of the Green) an environmental awareness
project; Agentes da Saúde (Health Agents) health
protection project; Arte na Rua (Art in the
Streets) an art and culture project; Comunidade Empreendedora
(Entrepreneurial Community) a project of
professional education and income generation, and
Mãos à Obra
(Hands on) a project of urban infra-structure.
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