INEOS must – and does – use water responsibly. As a company, which has 154 sites around the world, it continues to improve how it recycles its process water, minimises its use of drinking water, and effectively handles, transports and treats its wastewater.

Responsible Care®
INEOS is a member of Responsible Care®, a global, voluntary initiative developed by the chemical industry to encourage the industry to go above and beyond the regulations. It operates in more than 60 countries and leads to transparency, continuous improvement, and doing what’s right for all.
Treatment of Wastewater
Due to the nature of chemical processes, wastewater is nearly always contaminated, which is why INEOS sites are optimised to reuse it until no further use is possible.
Pasadena, USA: phenolic wastewater is used as a nutrient feed for the biota in the on-site wastewater treatment plant, avoiding the need to dispose of it as hazardous waste.
Gladbeck, Germany: INEOS uses wastewater to dilute caustic soda, which is then used for neutralisation reactions and other purposes.
Jemeppe, Belgium: INEOS pressed ahead with building a physicochemical treatment plant and consulted on plans to invest further in a biological treatment process. The two projects will remove particles and organic matter from PVC wastewater
Water Efficiency
All INEOS sites monitor how much water they use throughout the year and all steps to improve the way they use water, are taken. The amount of water, which is discharged, is also recorded and INEOS’ manufacturing sites are invited to share their plans to reduce, reuse, or replace fresh water.
Water Consumption
Reducing water consumption is a group-wide ambition at all INEOS’ manufacturing sites and considered essential whenever plants are being designed or upgraded.
Antwerp, Belgium: the new cracker is designed to use demineralised water in the cooling circuits instead of city water and to reuse rainwater, which will considerably reduce water consumption.