ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSION

• We recognize the importance of environmental responsibility and promote operational practices to reduce the environmental impact associated with our activities.

• We believe in the need to make a constant effort to develop strategies and actions that are considered ecosystem friendly.

• We operate in a manner that is respectful of environmental laws of the countries in which we operate and voluntarily comply with world-class standards and norms (ISO 14001).

• We permanently monitor our activities so as to detect areas that require corrective measures or improvements as a mean to fully assuming our environmental responsibility, with the support of the Plycem Research and Development Center.

A source of raw material and social and environmental well-being

The Asume tu Papel (take care of your paper) program was born in 1995 as an initiative of Plycem Construsistemas, Costa Rica, (now The Plycem Company) supported by the Ministry of Public Education, and aimed at schools, colleges and civil society organizations (retirement homes, foundations, associations, etc.). Its objective is to promote recycling and motivate current generations to carry out environmental conservation activities.

The program involves the purchase of used newspapers from participating organizations seeking to:

a. Ensure a source of raw materials for the manufacturing process of Plycem boards.

b. Provide educational institutions with an alternative source of funds to enable them to undertake activities not financed with public funds.

c. Create a concrete and sustainable recycling activity and demonstrate its importance to students.

d. Promote leadership among students.

One-hundred-and-seventy organizations have been involved since the outset; 120,000 students have collected 4 million kilos of newspaper avoiding the felling of 75,420 trees, and the organizations have received US$200,000 through newspaper sales.

The program has grown over these eleven years and The Plycem Company is prepared to continue with this important project in Honduras and El Salvador.

TESTIMONIES

Colegio Samuel Saénz Flores

“Asume tu Papel is a project that has become part of the day-to-day routine of students. When the school year begins a letter is sent to all homes explaining why the newspaper is collected, and in this way we hope that families will raise awareness among and help us motivate young people. For us, recycling represents a gift for future generations and for our environment, and for this reason we consider the work of Plycem to be very valuable, as it prompts us to take care of the world.”

Marjorie Rodríguez, director of the Colegio Samuel Sáenz Flores, in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Sotero González Kindergarten

The “Asume tu Papel ” program is an opportunity both to raise funds and help the planet for the 380 students of the Sotero González Kindergarten in the San Juan de Dios district of Desamparados.

“Newspaper collection became a culture for our students. At the beginning we had to remind them to bring the paper they’d collected, but after two years the children brought it punctually every Thursday or Friday, according to their own particular section” according to Isela Monge, the kindergarten’s coordinator of student well-being.

Monge explained that the institution has participated in the program for two years and every six weeks over a tonne of paper is loaded onto The Plycem Company truck.

For further information

Telephone: +506 2551 0866. E-mail: lusinia.castro@plycem.com