Circular economy and waste management
The outcomes from our activity can generate some important negative impacts on the environment and economy. We put efforts on making a correct waste management by maintaining proper recycling actions.
Management of waste and hazardous materials
From our own activity we generate waste paper, plastic, used electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), household waste and others, which are mainly generated from operational activities carried out within the agencies. We also generate other types of waste such as rubber waste, waste oil and other types of alternative or related hazardous waste at the operational level in our service activities. Their management is done with authorized and specialized companies for disposal or recovery, and internally responsible employees constantly monitor their generation and traceability.
An important initiative in 2021 is the digitization of the signature of decision-makers. In conjunction with the optimization of operational flows, we have managed to reduce paper consumption by more than 10%. The most paper-intensive activities are still those related to interaction with public institutions (e.g. tax documents, car registrations), but we are confident that these resources will decrease considerably in the coming years with the increasing share of digitization in this sector as well.
Autonom is not subject to mandatory environmental reporting, but we want to do this voluntarily in order to raise awareness of the impact we generate.
In 2021 we obtained ISO 14001 environmental certification. The environmental management system certification process gives us the confidence that our processes are controlled and compliant with applicable legal requirements and we have established an environmental program in conjunction with our sustainability strategy to help us achieve our objectives.
In terms of our national footprint, we are aware of the impact we generate at our sites in terms of the amount of waste generated, as well as that resulting from the operation and end of life of related waste (tires, oils).
Selective waste collection and disposal from sites was operated, at 2021 level, directly by agencies, through local partners.
Waste type | Source | Disposal Management |
|---|---|---|
Used tires | Cars | Recycle / Selling through authorized partners |
Used oil | Cars | Recycle through authorized partners |
Used consumables (printer toners, etc.) | Office | Waste |
Paper / wrapping | Office | Recycle through authorized partners |
Plastic / wrap / PET | Office | Recycle through authorized partners |
Bottles | Office | Recycle through authorized partners |
WEEE | Office | Recycle through authorized partners |
From the head office in Bucharest, according to our partner Recicleta, part of the Viitor Plus Association, 574 kg of recyclable materials were collected from the date of signing the contract (March 2021) until the end of the year.
For better internal organization and proper waste management, we signed a national partnership with VRANCART at the end of 2021 for the selective collection of the following waste categories: cardboard, paper, plastic, metal and glass.
In 2021, 0.09 tons of electrical and electronic equipment were handed over for recycling to our partners at Workshops Without Frontiers (AFF), of which 66kg / 59 products were recycled, thus avoiding, according to their calculations, 2,815 kg CO2.
In terms of used tires and oil, in 2021 we took 87.88 tons of tires out of use and sent for recycling 33.57t of engine oil, representing 16% of the total percentage of tires and 100% of the oil removed. In addition, 18.9 tons of used tires were recovered through partners or sold directly to end-users together with the car. The process is constantly monitored by specialized internal staff and the tires are scrapped by authorized partners in accordance with the legal regulations in force.