Material Loss

In 2020, our material loss intensity improved 46.3% from the 2010 baseline and 7.3% from 2019, and our absolute material loss decreased from 3.3 million tons to 3.1 million tons. 

One of the most significant sources of SABIC’s material losses is CO₂ from process emissions and flaring. Due to stable operations in 2020, we were able to more efficiently use CO₂, resulting in 165,000 tons of material loss savings. Additional material loss improvements resulted from decreased flaring of 90,000 tons, and the remainder was due to absolute waste reduction. Our waste disposal totalled to 0.27 million tons, which is 29% reduction since 2010.

Among the projects that reduced our material loss was the sale of waste oil at our UNITED U&O plant, which converted between 1,200 and 1,700 tons of waste into a low-value product, reducing material loss intensity by about 0.5%. 

At our Mt. Vernon, Indiana, plant, our employees participated in Operation Clean Sweep to clear debris before washdowns and reduce material loss as waste sent into the water basin.

Finally, our Sharq plant announced an agreement to eliminate waste and create value from slop oil. We expect this will eliminate more than 70% of slop oil waste, reducing material loss by up to 1.5%.