Sustainability Report 2011 - 2012

HERA HOLDING Habitat, Ecología, Restauración Ambiental, S.L.
Barcelona | Calle Numancia, 185, 6ª planta | 08034 Barcelona | T. +34 93 205 10 10
Madrid | Calle Isla del Hierro, 7 - 1ª planta | 28703 San Sebastián de los Reyes, Madrid | T. +34 91 736 21 77
info@heraholding.com | www. heraholding.com
HERAISustainabilityReport2011-2012
Sustainability Report I 2011-2012

Small social initiatives can help recycle, upgrade and recover the world.
Take a look at some of them in this Sustainability Report...

Estrategia y Análisis2
For queries or further information about this sustainability report please contact:
Neus Colom
Numancia 185, planta 6 · 08034 Barcelona
Tel. +34 93 205 10 10
memoria@heraholding.com
FSC - Forest Stewardship Council
Design and production: www.fusion-creativa.com
English translation by Anne Barton de Mayor
Printed by NOVAGRAF EDICIÓ SLNE
Legal registration B-29118-2011
Barcelona, June 2013

3Table of contents
Table of contents
1 Strategy and analysis 5
1. 1 Chairman’s foreword 5
1.2 Chief Executive Officer’s statement 7
2 Highlights 10
2. 1 Presence of the HERA Group 10
2.2 Key figures 11
2.3 2011-2012 highlights 12
2.4 Interview:
‘Restoration of a Kuwaiti oil field. HERA
Group’s biggest soil remediation project’ 14
3 Report parameters 16
3. 1 Report outline 16
3.2 Report scope 16
4 HERA Group 18
4. 1 Recovery activities 23
4.1.1 From waste to materials/renewable energy 23
4.1.2 From wastewater to clean water 35
4.1.3 From emissions to renewable energy 4 1
4.1.4 From contaminated land to usable space 46
4.2 Disposal/Elimination activities 50
4.3 Logistics activities 55
5 Commitment to stakeholders 57
6 Governance 76
7 Appendices 80
7. 1 Other necessary GRI figures 80
7.2 Basic GRI grid of contents 92
7.3 Glossary 95

5Strategy and analysis
The 2011-2012 period has been a
time of ups and downs for our
company. The downside has been
the intensifying world economic
crisis, which hit Spain very hard
and reduced our turnover and
earnings. Factory closures and
declining domestic consumption
resulted in a significant drop in
the waste generated within the
spheres of influence of our
Spanish facilities.
On the upside, however, I must
mention our participation in
many public and private
international tenders. HERA’s
magnificent engineering prestige
outside Spain has enabled us to
bid for major contracts on a par
with the biggest corporations in
our industry. Our greatest
achievement in this field is the
soil remediation contract we
were awarded by the Kuwait Oil
Company. This contract is an
incredible challenge in
engineering terms and also as
regards adapting to a new
market with such different
customs and habits. Dealing with
local stakeholders is an extremely
enlightening and enriching
experience.
Our sustained growth in Latin
America makes us optimistic
about the investment made in
recent years, and which has
enabled us to become an integral
part of local communities, in
keeping with our determined
commitment to collaborate with
local focus groups and respond
to their needs.
I’d also like to mention that
during the years covered by this
report, we have continued to
reorganise the Group’s business
and structure. I have no doubt
that this will help us cope better
with any new challenges. We
have merged some companies
and liquidated others and, in
general, put our business in order.
The main aim of this report – in
addition to ensuring maximum
transparency about our business,
of course – was to achieve Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) level B,
so we set ambitious targets as
guidelines for many of our
business areas. In future editions
of our sustainability report, we
are determined to attain the very
highest GRI levels.
The great challenge of winning
international contracts calls for
even greater involvement with
partners, suppliers, authorities
and the local population in
general. In this respect, a
sustainability report is an
immensely useful tool thanks to
its standardised format
recognised in countless spheres.
Pablo Solesio López-Bosch
Chairman of the Board
Managing Director
Strategy and analysis
1.1 Chairman’s foreword

Strategy and analysis6
The HERA Group seeks to contribute proac-
tively to the world’s environmental, economic
and social sustainability.
In particular, for the HERA Group, environ-
mental sustainability means growth based on
the following pillars:
Reduce:
Use less energy and fewer materials in proces-
ses and products.
Renew:
Recycle waste and emissions and use re-
newable, natural resources.
Respect:
Acquire clean uses and sources of energy
with minimum, non-hazardous emissions and
waste.
Restore:
Decontaminate and enhance natural, muni-
cipal and industrial surroundings, offsetting
and mitigating any negative effects, and
recovering land.
Mission
To effectively close the cycle of resources
by developing technologies and manage-
ment systems designed to ensure they are
constantly recycled.
Our aim can no longer be simply to avoid
environmental impact.
Commitment to people
Respect for people’s integrity and dignity.»»
Trust in people’s ability to create value.»»
Humility and goodness.»»
Independent, ethical decisions.»»
Flexibility, adaptability and trustworthi-»»
ness.
Active link between the company and»»
its professionals.
Dialogue and responsible conduct»»
between the company and its stake-
holders.
Commitment to environmental excellence
Minimise environmental rucksacks and»»
carbon footprints.
Sustainable management of basic»»
resources: materials, water, energy and
land.
On-going eco-innovation.»»
Vision
Values

The HERA Group’s mission from
the very start has been to provi-
de first-rate services and techno-
logy in the waste management
industry. Our great challenge in
recent years, however, has been
marked by the end of an era in
which waste was deemed to be
merely worthless rubbish. HERA
understands waste to be a re-
source with great re-use and
recovery potential.
2012. A year of transition
The period covered by this report
was characterised by a worsening
of the economic and financial
crisis, causing a widespread
downturn in production which in
turn triggered a drop in the
volumes of waste managed,
particularly by our facilities in
Spain. The impact of this reduc-
tion resulted in an 18% decrease
in our 2012 earnings. The crisis
has not, however, been the only
factor to adversely effect turno-
ver: the year 2012 has been a year
of transition for the Group with
the completion of major cons-
truction projects in Spain such as
the Vallès Occidental waste
treatment plant (WTP), and
major international projects are
at the initial phase, e.g. the
Middle East soil remediation
project (Kuwait) with a total
budget of €45 million.
Cost cutting
Against this backdrop we have
made great efforts to cut costs,
resulting in more effective manage-
ment of procurement and contract-
ing. These measures as a whole
resulted in cost reductions one and
a half times greater than the
reduction in turnover, as a result of
which our EBITDA fell by just 3%.
Our strategic aims: remain
committed to R&D+i and
international growth
We have continued to participate
actively in R&D+i projects in
conjunction with acclaimed
research centres and universities,
as demonstrated by the fact that
in 2011, innovation and develop-
ment subsidies were twice those
of 2010. In this period, we worked
hard on BioDigester Integra®, our
own economically feasible tech-
nology combining the best of a
conventional controlled landfill
and a biomethane plant. We also
worked hard to find practical
uses for the Biogás Natural®
(biomethane) collected from our
landfills and anaerobic digestion
plants, i.e. converting it into
hydrogen and upgrading it to
almost 100% in fuel cells suitable
for vehicles and industry.
In 2011, the sale of our plant in
Chile improved our leverage and
enabled us to focus our interna-
tional growth on other markets
considered to be strategic for the
group in the short/long term, e.g.
Brazil where our turnover has
trebled thanks to the increase in
our investment and environmen-
tal services. We have started
work in the Middle East (Kuwait)
on the largest soil remediation
project ever carried out in the
region, which involves replanting
447,000m2
, i.e. 60% of the entire
remediated area, and reclaiming
2,000m3
of oil. For full details of
this major project, see the inter-
view on page 14 of this report.
Social considerations
I’d like to emphasise that our
activities in the abovementioned
countries, like our activities in
Spain, work in conjunction with
the local communities to raise
environmental awareness by
means of our environmental
classrooms and guided tours of
our facilities. In addition, when
ever possible, we do our utmost
to ensure that our growth in said
countries fosters non-discrimina-
tion and sex equality. In this
period, the percentage of women
working at our South-American
facilities increased by 76%.
Continuous improvement in
drafting the Sustainability
Report
The intention of this Sustainabili-
ty Report is to offer an accurate
portrayal of our considerable
contribution to society, the
economy and the environment.
Therefore, in this edition, we have
focussed on improving and
increasing the in-house proce
dures designed to describe our
activities more fully and clearly to
our stakeholders so we have risen
from Global Reporting Initiative
level C to level B. We realise that
there is still room for improve-
ment in certain areas. In future
editions, for example, we want to
encourage our stakeholders to
contribute more directly to the
report and to work with them to
produce a relevance survey to
review and update the aspects of
our business that they think are
relevant.
1.2 Chief Executive Officer’s statement

Strategy and analysis8
Main risks and opportunities
Our activities involving the
capture and upgrading of biogas
from controlled landfills were
affected by the reform of the
Spanish energy industry instiga-
ted in 2012 by Royal Decree
1/2012 which eliminated pre-as-
signation and economic incenti-
ves for renewable energies and
cogeneration. Against this back-
ground of falling revenue from
the sale of renewable energy by
existing facilities, we decided to
cut costs and enhance efficiency
in order to maximise electricity
production. We used other
technologies developed by the
Group to re-focus many of the
products in our portfolio affected
by this royal decree towards
self-sufficiency or an increased
use of biogas in non-electrical
applications.
One clear example of these
improvements is our commitment
to making our facilities as self
sufficient in energy as possible:
doubling it during this period.
Our commitment to environmen-
tal sustainability is also shown by
the 66% increase in the CO2
emissions avoided by recycling
energy and materials. Another
challenge for the next edition is
to calculate the entire direct and
indirect CO2
emissions caused by
our activities.
In addition, to mitigate the
impact of this reform, we have
discovered alternatives ways of
generating electricity using
biogas. Our proprietary technolo-
gy now enables Biogás Natural®
to be used in the same circums-
tances as gas natural: as biofuel
for vehicles, or injected directly
into the natural gas mains net-
work, or to produce hydrogen
with efficiency rates of almost
100%.
The new Spanish Law 22/2011 on
waste and Contaminated Soils
passed in this period initially
caused some confusion in social,
environmental and economic
realms. Our main concern was to
ensure that the waste manage-
ment measures taken were in
keeping with climate change
strategies, and we submitted our
opinion together with the Funda-
ció Fòrum Ambiental. Our de-
mands were incorporated into
current legislation, which has
redrawn the waste recovery
scenario.
This law gives the recovery of
energy from waste priority over
disposal and confirms the efforts
that HERA has been making to
focus on physical recovery in
recent years, as shown by the
fact that recovery activities in
2012 were 12% higher than in 2011,
and accounted for 46% of turno-
ver, whereas disposal activities
accounted for 38%.
Before ending, I would like to
highlight and thank the com-
mitment, experience and efforts
of all our employees to adapt to
the changes imposed by today’s
complex and adverse economic
climate.
For all the above reasons we can
look forward optimistically to the
future for we have succeeded in
laying solid foundations enabling
us to adapt flexibly to change
with fewer resources whilst
contributing to sustainability
both inside and outside the
company.
Jordi Gallego
HERA Group
Chief Executive Officer

WTP Vallès Occidental (Vacarisses, Spain)

Highlights10
Highlights
2.1 Presence of the HERA Group
France
Germany
Korea
Kuwait
Ukraine
Portugal
Chile
Colombia
Brazil
Argentina
Spain
Disposal/Elimination activities
Controlled landfills for hazardous and non-hazardous waste
Disposal of hazardous waste
Logistics activities
Hazardous waste transfer plants
Recovery activities
From waste to materials/renewable energy
Mechanical biological treatment
Biogas generated by anaerobic digestion of organic matter:
integra® biogester or biomethanisation
Syngas made of gas captured from biomass and non-recycla-
ble waste
Recovery of paint and solvents
Recovery of precious metals
Upgrading of steel works powder (Óxidos Recumet® System)
Upgrading of construction and demolition waste
Integral management of old tyres
Upgrading of WWTP sludge and leachate concentrate
(Alximix® System)
From wastewater to clean water
Treatment of leachates
Treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater
From emissions to renewable energy
Biogas capture and upgrading
Conversion into Biogás Natural® (biomethane) for injection
into gas grid or use as fuel for fleets of vehicles
Production of hydrogen from Biogás Natural®
From contaminated land to usable space
Cutting-edge technology for soil remediation

11Highlights
2.2 Key figures
2010 2011 2012
Employees
Turnover (€m)
EBITDA (€m)
Waste handled (mt)
Materials recovered (mt)
Soil decontaminated (mt)
Water treated for third parties (m3
)
Leachates treated (m3
)
Renewable electricity sold (kWh)
Electricity generated for own use (kWh)
Emissions avoided by energy upgrading and
material recycling (mt CO2
)
531 418 444
96.30 90.75 74.80
13.50 13.00 12.57
1,855,966 1,603,765 1,464,286
29,312 77,768 75,320
375,000 327,000 363,000
1,166,671 366,593 301,586
119,192 358,100 156,918
47,245,126 40,577,025 46,232,025
9,214,142 24,929,041 24,172,426
57,723 95,606 103,565
2012
Comments»»
“Waste handled” in 2010 included decontaminated soil. This is not included in 2012 because it is not listed in the--
European List of Wastes.
A carbon heat emission factor of 0.98 kg CO-- 2
/kWh was used to calculate the emissions avoided by upgrading energy
to produce electricity. When calculating the emissions avoided by upgrading energy to produce heat, a factor of 2.15 kg
CO2
/Nm3
was used.
When calculating the CO-- 2
emissions avoided by recycling materials, the EpE Protocol (EPA 2006) was used.
444
employees
€ 74.80 m
Turnover
€ 12.57 m
EBITDA
1,464,286 mt
Waste handled
75,320 mt
materials recovered
363,000 mt
soil decontaminated
301,586 m3

water treated for third
parties

156,918 m3

leachates treated
46,232,025 kWh
renewable electricity sold

24,172,426 kWh
Electricity generated for
own use

103,565 mt CO2
Emissions avoided by
energy upgrading and
material recycling

Highlights12
2.3 2011-2012 highlights
En lo MEDIOAMBIENTAL
En lo SOCIAL
A survey of psycho-social hazards was conducted••
amongst 50% of the workforce in late 2012 in con-
junction with the Employers’ Liability Insurance, to
determine the possible impact of workers’ jobs on
their health and wellbeing. On the whole, no signifi-
cant findings emerged.
In Spain, 70% of employees are represented by Em-••
ployees’ Committees.
Increase in the numbers of female employees in com-••
parison with male employees: up by 76% in Latin Ame-
rica and by 7% in Europe. At the Vallès Occidental WTP,
women account for almost 30% of the workforce.
The average age of employees in Latin America fell by••
3% to 35.75 years old in 2012.
The Group continues to work in conjunction with lo-••
cal communities to foster environmental awareness
by providing environmental rooms and guided tours
of its facilities.
Soil remediation project in the Middle East (Kuwait)••
will decontaminate 703,000m2
of land and replant
60% of this area.
From 2011 onwards, the amount of electricity pro-••
duced by our facilities for their own consumption
has doubled, thanks particularly to the start of ope-
rations at Vallès Occidental WTP which is 100% self
sufficient in water and energy.
CO•• 2
emissions avoided by generating energy and
recycling materials increased by 66% between 2010
and 2011.
Greater involvement with product life cycles. The old tyre••
treatment (OTT) division will produce and sell the latest gene-
ration of tyre powder in Europe for use in manufacturing new
tyres.
The Group has taken another step in diversifying its•• Biogás Na-
tural® applications by using it to produce upgradable hydro-
gen with maximum fuel cell efficiency.
HERA’s active involvement in the “Waste and Climate Change••
Think Tank” venture held by the Fundació Fòrum Ambiental,
led to amendments being proposed for Spanish law 22/2011 on
waste and contaminated land because it did not address the
link between waste and climate change. Most of the proposed
amendments were incorporated and the law is now in force.
ENVIRONMENTAL
aspects
SOCIAL aspects

13Highlights
2011-2012 was a time of transition from a business model focused on Spain’s••
domestic market to a more globalised HERA Group present in more regions
of the world:
••Middle East (Kuwait): soil remediation.
••France (Tournan-en-Brie): construction of a mechanical/biological
treatment plant.
••United Kingdom (Scotland): soil remediation.
••South Korea (Ulsan): construction of high-performance biogas produc-
tion facilities using organic waste.
Exportation of leachate management savoir-faire to new markets. The first••
leachate management plant using reverse osmosis, including treatment servi-
ces, with an operating capacity of 100 m3
/day began operating in Brazil under
a lease agreement.
Maximum efficiency in the use of available resources has enabled savings of••
€3 million.
Ever greater commitment to recovery activities which now account for 46% of••
turnover, as opposed to disposal activities (38% of turnover).
Increased efforts on incorporating more efficient, innovative technologies. In••
2010-11, R&D+i subsidies doubled. In this respect, the Group has adapted to
the new economic climate by developing affordable waste management sys-
tems: BioDigester Integra®.
ECONOMIC aspects

Highlights14
2.4 Interview | FERNANDO HERREROS
Restoration of a Kuwaiti oil
field. HERA Group’s biggest
soil remediation project.
‘We contribute to the sustai-
nable growth of developing
countries’
The economic boom that has
characterised developing coun-
tries such as China, Brazil, India,
Mexico, etc, in recent years, has
also caused their energy require-
ments to soar, resulting in a
considerable increase in the
world demand for oil and conse-
quently, an unprecedented hike in
oil prices.
All this has multiplied the wealth
of oil producing countries, parti-
cularly those in the Persian Gulf
(whose production costs have
not increased).
In keeping with natural evolution,
once the basic needs of a society
are satisfied, cultural, social and
environmental needs then emer-
ge - and the Emirate of Kuwait is
currently at this stage.
The remediation project ten-
der is part of the Kuwait Oil
Company’s strategic plan
(KOC). What environmental
aims do they have?
At the current time Kuwait, along
with Saudi Arabia, has the world’s
biggest investment plan for infras-
tructure and environmental projects
in the world, which means a host of
business opportunities at present.
As regards the contaminated soil
market, KOC’s strategic environ-
mental development plan aims for
the remediation of all contaminated
land and the recovery of desert
ecosystems on those sites.
Briefly, what are the phases of
the project?
GENERAL WORK BEFOREHAND:
Perimeter fences••
(14,000 metres).
Roads and access points••
(18,000 metres).
Installation of offices and site••
containers: 2 main offices and
8 satellite offices.
Environmental Impact Study.••
Hazard Identification Study,••
and Hazard and Operability
Study.
SPECIFIC TASKS:
Detection survey and manage-••
ment of unexploded ordnance.
X-ray survey.••
Detailed investigation of each••
existing stratum (sludge and
soil).
Water removal and manage-••
ment.
Removal and treatment of oily••
sludge.
Excavation and treatment of••
affected land.
Separation and management••
of waste including manufac-
turing lines and discarded
fencing.
Landfill and compacting of all••
areas using treated soil.
Recovery of native ecosystems••
in remediated areas.
What technology will you use
in each phase?
We will apply the following soil
remediation technologies:
Soil scrubbing: this technique
uses water to decontaminate the
soil. The process removes the
contaminants by dissolving or
suspending them in the aqueous
solution and then concentrating
KOC Project. Key figures
Budget: €45 million
Completion time: 36 months
Contaminated area:
703,000 m2
Replanted area: 447,000 m2
Total oily sludge to be treated:
78,000 m3
Crude oil recovered: 2,000 m3
Soil remediation in Kuwait

15Highlights
the contaminants in a small
volume by particle size separa-
tion.
Thermal desorption: involves
heating the soil to be treated to
between 90 and 560 O
C to
volatize the contaminants which
are then dealt with in the gas
phase.
Biotreatments: these enable
contaminants to be broken down
by microorganisms. The medium
is enhanced to enable the colo-
nies of degrader microorganisms
to perform well. It’s a very versa-
tile technique suitable for water
and soil. It can also be used in
situ, ad situ and ex situ.
What difficulties did you
come across?
The main difficulties were cultural
differences, a lack of knowledge
of the Kuwaiti labour market and
the need to learn the regulations
used by the Kuwaiti authorities
and KOC itself.
When is work scheduled for
completion?
The completion date is scheduled
for March 25th 2015.
How many people are wor-
king on the project? How
many locals? How many
women?
HERA AG Ambiental’s own staff
consists of 80 people. Due to the
characteristics of the Kuwaiti job
market, the percentage of wo-
men on the payroll is not signifi-
cant. At the management level,
most of whom are European,
40% are women.
What sort of waste does
decontamination produce?
How is this waste treated?
Virtually no waste is generated
by our activities, just the waste
produced during the maintenan-
ce of our equipment.
What impact will the project
have on the environment?
The environmental aim of the
project is to restore the ecosys-
tems affected by contamination.
To be specific, the replanted
areas will account for more than
60% of the entire decontamina-
ted area. This project falls within
the framework of the internatio-
nal environmental agreements
ratified by the Kuwaiti govern-
ment.
Fernando Herreros
Chief Executive Officer
HERA AG Ambiental S.L.

Report parameters16
This is the HERA Group’s fourth,
bi-annual sustainability report
and it features the figures for the
years ending December 31st 2011
and 2012.
The sustainability report has been
posted on the www.heraholding.
com/memoria website for consul-
tation by the general public. It
includes a questionnaire to let
readers voice their opinions.
As in previous editions, this
report complies with GRI (Global
Reporting Initiative or G3 as it is
also known) guidelines for sustai-
nability reports, edition G3.1.
Unlike previous reports, in this
edition the Group has climbed
from GRI application level C to
application level B (for more
details of application levels, see
following table). In order to
achieve level B, the Group hired
BSD Consulting (GRI’s data
partner and training company in
Spain) and incorporated their
suggestions for improvement,
whilst also drafting plans for
further progress in future sustai-
nability reports. In this respect,
with a view to the next edition,
the Group intends to work in
conjunction with its stakeholders
on reviewing and enhancing the
main social, environmental and
economic impacts generated by
the Group and the respective
indicators.
This year the Group decided to
focus on improving the report’s
contents by climbing from level C
to level B. Therefore, in order to
comply with the cost-cutting
policies implemented by the
Group’s management, it was
3.1 Report outline
Report parameters
decided not to have the report
verified since the data sources
and methods are the same as in
previous periods. Each year, and
this year was no exception, the
report coordination team reques-
ted data from the departmental
heads responsible for each of the
Group’s activities, and this infor-
mation was revised and checked
internally together with the
3.2 Report scope
general management.
This report includes details of the
Group’s performance in 2011-2012
in Spain, Latin America, Europe
and the Middle East (since 2012)
thanks to the companies listed
below in which HERA has a stake
of 50% or more. The information
about subsidiaries is based
mainly on majority percentages
Report applica-
tion level
C C+ B B+ A A+
Report on:
1.1
2.1-2.10
3.1-3.8,3.10-3.12
4.1-4.4,4.14-
4.15
Report on all
criteria listed
for Level C plus:
1.2
3.9,3.13
4.5-4.13,4.16-
4.17
Same as
requirement for
Level B
Not Required Management
Approach Dis-
clousures for
each Indicator
Category
Management
Approach
Disclousures for
each Indicator
Category
Report on a
minimum of 10
Performance
Indicators,
including at
least one from
each of:
Economic,
Social and
Environmental
Report on a
minimum of
20 Performan-
ce Inicators,
at least one
from each of
Economic,
Envirnmental,
Human rights,
Labor, Society,
Product Repon-
sibility
Report on each
core G3 and
Sector Supple-
ment* Indicator
with due regard
to the Materia-
lity Principle by
either:
a) reporting on the
indicator
b) explaining
the reason for its
omission
StandardDisclousures
ReportExternallyAssured
G3 Profile
Disclousures
OUTPUT
G3 Management
Approach
Disclousures
OUTPUT
G3 Performance
Indicators &
Sector
Supplement
Performance
Indicators
OUTPUT
* Sector supplement in final version

17Report parameters
Parent company
HERA Holding Habitat, Ecología
y Restauración Ambiental S.L.
Spanish companies
ALQUIMIA SELECTA S.L.
ALANSU S.L. (sold on 20/12/12)
ALANSU ASTURIAS MEDIOAM-
BIENTE S.L. (sold on 19/12/12)
ATRI S.L.
CENTRAL DE RECOVERY DE
CASTILLA LA MANCHA S.L.
CETARE TRATAMIENTOS S.L.
COLL CARDÚS GAS S.L.
ENERXIA DOS CASTROS S.L.
HERA AMASA S.A.
HERA GAS S.L. (name changed
on 05/10/11. Formerly HERA
Energ S.L., already 100% HERA)
HERA GASIFICACIÓN S.L.
(name changed on 01/03/12.
Formerly HERA PLASCO. Al-
ready 100% HERA)
HERA IBEROAMERICANA S.A.
HERA PLASMA S.L.
HERA TRATESA S.A.U
INDUGARBI ENERGIA S.L.
INDUGARBI OTS S.L.
INDUGARBI CDW’S S.A.
INDUGARBI S.L.
ÓXIDOS RECUMET® S.L.
PLASMECO S.L U.
and effective control criteria.
The main changes in ownership in
comparison with the previous
edition of this report are summa-
rised below. For further details,
see the chapters about the
respective activities.
The sale in late 2012 of the••
companies responsible for the
Group’s transfer business, i.e.
Alansu S.L. and Alansu Astu-
rias Medioambiente S.L., did
not affect the business indica-
tors in this edition.
The French company Albhyon••
S.A.S. responsible for hydro-
gen production was bought in
June 2012, therefore its indi-
cators are not covered by this
report.
In November 2011, a controlled••
landfill in Chile (HERA Ecobio
S.A.) was sold. The indicators
of this business were not avai-
lable for this edition.
International companies
ALBHYON S.A.S. (French
company bought on 27/06/12)
BIOGAS KLEIN EICHHOLZ
GMBH
CONPOREC S.A.S.
HEGAR HABITAT, ECOLOGIA E
GESTAO AMBIENTAL DE RE-
CURSOS LDA
HERA AILINCO S.A.
HERA AG AMBIENTAL S.L.
HERA AMBIENTAL LTDA
HERA ARGENTINA S.A.
HERA BIO BIO S.A.
HERA BRAZIL INDUSTRIA E
COMERCIO LTDA
HERA CHILE S.A.
HERA ECOBIO S.A. (sold on
14/11/11)
HERA COLOMBIA S.A.
HERA FRANCE S.A.S
HERA SERVICIOS MEDIOAM-
BIENTALES S.A.
HERA SUL LTDA
HERA UCRANIA S.L.
HERA ZÁRATE CAMPANA S.A.
IBEROAMERICANA DE MEDIO-
AMBIENTE S.A.
MÉXICO DE SERVICIOS MEDIO-
AMBIENTALES S.A.
NUEVO MONDOÑEDO S.A.-
E.S.P.
SCHWARTING BIOSYSTEM
GMBH
STL S.A.
Temporary Consortia
UTE AMBIENTAL LIMITADA
UTE BIOGAS LORCA
UTE BIOVAL
UTE CTR VALLÈS
UTE FLOW HERA
UTE VALLORO

HERA Group18
HERA HOLDING, Hábitat, Ecolo-
gía y Restauración Ambiental,
S.L. is the head of a group of
companies providing integrated
environmental solutions for
responsible waste management,
and the operating and supply of
facilities for the treatment and
upgrading of waste, wastewater
and contaminated soils.
The Group is now well experien-
ced in waste management and
water treatment, as demonstra-
ted by its portfolio of more than
6,000 Spanish and international
customers. This experience
together with its great dedication
to innovation and the develop-
ment of in-house technologies,
plus its commitment to managing
each type of waste so as to
ensure maximum recovery of
materials, renewable energy,
clean water and space, all enable
the Group to continue developing
its environmental expertise and
provide solutions that cater for
each customer’s specific needs.
To provide an overview of HERA’s
activities, the table below sum-
marises the turnover by country
in which the group operates (for
full details, see the following
chapter):
Spain
In addition to traditional disposal
activities (the Group has three
plants at present) and waste
transfer, the Group also builds
and runs facilities to separate and
then upgrade materials to the
full. It is experienced in mechani-
cal and biological treatment
plants (one example being the
Vallès Occidental WTP); has a
paint and solvent recovery plant
in Palencia; a precious metal
recovery plant in Cantabria;
upgrades iron and steelworks
dust in Biscay; and recycles
construction and demolition
waste (CDW) and old tyres in
Navarre. In the 2010-12 period,
the Group implemented an
in-house waste management
system that exploits the benefits
of a conventional controlled
landfill and a biomethane plant
(BioDigester Integra®).
HERA Group
Turnover by regions
(‘000 €)
2010 2011 2012
Spain 75,314 68,604 59,496
Europe 3,194 5,210 2,823
Latin America 17,820 16,940 8,972
Middle East NAP NAP 3,516
NAP: Not applicable
In Spain 2010 2011 2012
Waste treated (mt): 710,006 767,352 645,356
Materials recovered
(mt):
10,133 53,237 50,527

19HERA Group
In Spain 2010 2011 2012
Volume of leachates
treated (m3
)
119,192 358,100 156,918
Volume of water
treated for third
parties (m3
)
1,166,671 366,593 301,586
Volume of soil de-
contaminated (m3
)
715,000 686,400 710,600
Renewable
electricity sold
(kWh/yr)
39,757,126 30,905,525 36,560,025
As for wastewater, the Group
builds and runs industrial and
urban wastewaste treatment
plants, and also treats leachates
using the customer’s or the
Group’s own landfills. The Group’s
desire to provide integrated waste
management led it to develop a
sludge recovery technology.
HERA’s cutting-edge proprietary
technology also enables it to
provide soil decontamination and
remediation services.
The Group has experience in
recovering energy from non-recy-
clable waste and from biomass
by gasification and has several
customer for whom it captures
the biogas generated by their
controlled landfills and converts
it into renewable electricity by
cogenerators. The Group also
uses its proprietary technology
to convert it into Biogás Natural®
(biomethane) which can be used
in realms where natural gas is an
option, for example, as biofuel for
vehicles, or injected into the
natural gas network or, from 2012
onwards, even converted into
hydrogen.
Conporec technology (Tournan-en-Brie, France) Solid municipal waste treatment plant

HERA Group20
In Latin America 2010 2011 2012
Waste handed (mt): 746,960 805,554 762,930
HERA’s internal structure is
organised according to Financial
and Corporate Resources, Strate-
gic Resources, and finally Busi-
ness Development and Manage-
ment resources. The third area is
then subdivided into three sec-
tors according to the type of
business or service provided:
Operations, Engineering and
Business Development.
In Latin America
HERA owns several controlled
landfills for hazardous and non-
hazardous waste in Brazil, Colom-
bia, Chile and Argentina.
Within the framework of the
Kyoto Protocol, the Group has a
clean development mechanism in
Chile that is currently being
certified.
In Europe, Asia and Middle
East
In Germany, HERA has several
years’ experience building and
running anaerobic digestion
organic waste treatment plants in
Germany and has a heavy-duty
proprietary technology specially
designed to digest the sludge
produced by urban wastewater
treatment plants. During the
period covered by this report,
HERA’s proprietary technology
left its stamp on the international
scene when a plant was built in
Korea.
In France, in the city of Tournan-
en-Brie, the Group is building a
mechanical and biological
treatment plant for solid urban
waste using aerobic digestion: a
patented technology that produ-
ces top-quality compost.
In 2012 the Group began work on
the restoration of an oil field in
the Middle East (Kuwait) with a
view to recovering 447,000 m2
of
desert areas. In this period, HERA
also carried out two soil remedia-
tion projects in Portugal and
another in Glasgow (United
Kingdom).
In Europe, Asia and
Middle East
2010 2011 2012
Renewable electrici-
ty sold (kWh/yr)
7,488,000 9,671,500 9,672,000

21HERA Group
Internal organisation of the HERA Group:
Corporate
structure
Business Development
and Management
Emerging markets
Mature markets
New Ventures
OPERATIONS
Operating and construction
of facilities
Low-cost waste treatment
systems
Environmental services for
industry
Engineering
Integration of bids and
scheme designs
Construction of plants
Business
Developments
Project management and
business models
Project finance
management
New business
Strategic resources
HERA Institute
Financial resources
Corporate resources

HERA Group22
However, for the purposes of this
report it is more appropriate and
useful to organise the information
by giving priority to environmen-
tal considerations. This is why the
activities covered in the four
editions of this report have been
organised according to the type
of management provided for
each sort of waste:
Since this is the first time that the
Group is obliged to specify the
social, economic and environ-
mental improvements required by
the management approach, it
was decided to include them
alongside the respective indica-
tor to enable the context in which
each activity takes place to be
understood better. In future
editions, this will be summarised
in a chart to make it easy to see
which aims have been met.
The following section explains in
depth the activities carried out
by HERA in this period. Each
section is followed by a list and
explanation of the environmental
pressures considered, in con-
junction with the general mana-
gement, to be the most impor-
tant for each type of activity, and
also the methods used to measu-
re the data or, in those cases
where GRI protocols were not
applied, the calculation methods
used.
RECOVERY
ACTIVITIES
LOGISTICS
ACTIVITIES
DISPOSAL/
ELIMINATION
ACTIVITIES
RECOVERY ACTIVITIES
From waste to materials/re-••
newable energy
From wastewater to clean••
water
From emissions to renewable••
energy
From contaminated land to••
usable space
DISPOSAL/ELIMINATION
ACTIVITIES
LOGISTICS ACTIVITIES

23Recovery activities I From waste to materials / renewable energy
Recovery activities
4.1.1 From waste to materials / renewable energy
This activity consists of leaving
books in public places where they
can be picked up by other readers
who will then do likewise. The idea
is to leave books out to be found
by other people.
Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
WTP: Vallès Occidental waste treatment plant(1)
mt of SMW handled NAP 167,573 146,482 M
Output of materials (mt):
Recovered aluminium NAP 266 349 M
Recovered brick NAP 672 668 M
Recovered plastic film NAP 393 315 M
Recovered HDPE plastic bottles NAP 694 754 M
Recovered HDPE plastic crates NAP 85 62 M
Recovered PET plastic NAP 1,237 1,357 M
Recovered mix of plastics NAP 1,866 2,235 M
Recovered paper/cardboard NAP 864 994 M
Recovered steel (cans) NAP 2,394 2,355 M
Recovered voluminous scrap metal NAP 58 34 M
Upgraded bio-stabilised material NAP 15,931 20,454 M
* Estimated (E), Measured (M), Calculated (C)
Comments»»
-- (1 )
Vallès Occidental WTP opened in 2011.

Recovery activities I From waste to materials / renewable energy24
Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
Upgrading of steelwork powder
(Óxidos Recumet system®)(1)
mt of steelwork powder treated NAP 10,863 8,535 C
Material recycled as raw material for steelworks NAP 2,549 2,672 M
Material upgraded by Óxidos Recumet system for
use in zinc industry
NAP 8,690 6,828 M
Steel recovered using Óxidos Recumet system NAP 306 321 E
Biogas generated by anaerobic digestion of
organic material
mt of incoming organic waste 24,000 30,859 31,000 M
Output:
kWh of renewable electricity produced and sold 7,488,000 9,671,500 9,672,000 E
kWh of heat produced 7,862,400 10,154,800 10,155,600 E
Digestate generated for agriculture (mt/yr) 19,200 24,550 24,800 E

Recovery of paints and solvents
mt of waste treated 5,279 4,970 4,741 C
Recycled paints and solvents 599 828 830 C
Paints and solvents upgraded for use in
generating energy
1,100 876 680 C
Comm»» ents
-- (1 )
Steelwork powder upgrading (Óxidos Recumet system®) started in 2011.

Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
mt of incoming waste 245 207 165 M
Recovered silver 0.88 0.89 0.46 M
Recovered PET 21 19 7 M
CDW recovery
mt of incoming CDW 7,176 15,932 1,151 M
Recovered aggregates 6,354 9,070 2,641 M
Recovered iron 22 13 2 M
Recovered cardboard 23 67 1 M
Recovered plastic 32 36 2 M
Recovered wood 196 200 21 M
Old tyre recycling
mt of incoming old tyres 3,424 4,053 7,697 M
Inner tubes 25 11 0 M
Tracks 12 0 0 M
Shells 81 76 326 M
Powder 147 245 82 M
Aggregate 794 3,893 3,884 M
Ferrous 378 1,250 1,247 M
Textile 349 646 1,406 M

OTHER
WASTE
INTAKE
MECHANICAL
SEPARATION
Biological
treatment
Waste sent to
landfill
Recovery
Materials
cardboard · iron
bricks · plastic
aluminium · paper...
Organic matter
biostabilised
Mechanical and biological
treatment (MBT)
The Group has ten years’ expe-
rience in building mechanical and
biological treatment plants that
enable optimum fractioning,
material recovery and bioenergy
upgrading. Here a few examples
of these facilities:
In 2006, the temporary consor-
tium UTE Valloro, in which HERA
has a 50% stake, won the tender
for the “enlargement of the
anaerobic digestion process and
the capacity of the composting
plant at the Vallès Oriental regio-
nal waste treatment plant in
Granollers”. The contract entailed
the construction of a mechanical
and biological treatment plant
able to process 45,000 mt/yr of
the organic fraction of municipal
waste (OFMW) using a low-solid
(wet), anaerobic digestion sys-
tem that produces biogas for use
as a renewable energy. The
construction and commissioning
of these facilities ended in 2011
and the final budget was €29
million.
In February 2007, the WTP Vallès
Occidental consortium led by
HERA with a 60% stake, was
awarded the tender held by the
Consorci de Residus del Vallès
Occidental for building and
operating the Vallès Occidental
Waste Treatment Plant in Coll
Cardús (Barcelona), expected to
have a total turnover during the
15-year concession of more than
€400 million and investment of
some €90 million. This plant
started operating in 2011 and
during the period covered by the
2011-12 report, handled an average
of 150,000 mt/yr of the
non-organic fraction of municipal
waste, although the plant is
designed to handle 245,000 mt/yr.
This plan has three processing
phases:
Pre-treatment of the non-1.
organic fraction of municipal
waste in order to recover the
upgradable materials from the
waste and separate the orga-
nic fraction (recovered organic
fraction, ROF).
Stabilisation of the recovered2.
organic matter by means of
a controlled aerobic process
lasting at least 6 weeks.
Treatment of the stabilised3.
ROF to obtain a clean, biosta-
bilised end product intended
to cover and restore the Coll
Cardús controlled landfill in
the future.
“This water treatment plant
is self sufficient as regards
water and electricity”
Treatment process of solid municipal waste (SMW):

During the construction phase of
this water treatment plant and
also the current operating phase,
priority was given to people from
Vacarisses (the town where the
plant is located) when recruiting
staff: 60% of employees are from
this town.
“Some 30% of the water
treatment plant workforce
are women”
In order to globalise its activities
and provide solutions able to
cater for different types of custo-
mers and countries, in 2010 the
Group bought the Conporec
technology patent, a form of
mechanical and biological pro-
cessing for solid municipal waste
(SMW) using aerobic digestion
developed in Canada. The resul-
ting high-quality compost (com-
pliant with the French standard
Certifie NFU 44051) is suitable for
agricultural use. Three plants
currently operate with this tech-
nology in the world: in Canada
(35,000 mt/yr capacity), USA
(41,000 mt/yr capacity), and
Australia (100,000 mt/yr capaci-
ty), and HERA is currently build
ing another in Tournan-en-Brie,
France able to handle 65,000 mt/
yr of SMW. This plant required
investment of €20 million and
completion is scheduled for 2013.
“Conporec technology
makes it possible to recover
60% of the organic matter
found in solid municipal
waste”
Generating biogas by anaero-
bic digestion of organic mat-
ter: bio-methane
Schwarting Biosystem GmbH
(SBS) is the Group’s company in
Flensburg, Germany responsible
for designing and building plants
generating biomethane from the
sludge produced by municipal
water treatment plants, foodpro-
cessing waste and other types of
organic waste suitable for diges-
tion.
Its twenty-one plants include the
Klein Eichholz GmbH biogas
plant in Berlin, built in 2006,
which handles 31,000 mt/yr of
foodprocessing waste and is a
good example of the HERA
Group’s experience in the integral
treatment of this type of waste,
pursuant to the provisions of
Regulations 1069/2009. In addi-
tion to its provisions concerning
class 1 animal by-products and
NER waste that must be incinera-
ted, these regulations also con-
template the use of composting
and/or bio-methanisation to
upgrade category class 2 and
class 3 waste. In addition, the
digestate this plant produces is
used as an agricultural bio-fertili-
ser, pursuant to Appendix II of
the German Act BioAbfV dated
September 21 1998. This all-in
plant also makes use of the
surplus heat generated by its
electricity generators fuelled by
the biogas captured from diges-
tion. This residual heat is used in
the compulsory neutralisation
process of class 2 and 3 waste.
As regards the Group’s technolo-
gical capabilities, HERA has a
proprietary high-performance,
anaerobic digestion technology
specifically designed to process
the sludge generated by munici-
pal wastewater treatment plants,
or any type of extremely liquid
mixtures, with a faster turnaround
time than conventional technolo-
gy. This enables a larger volume
of waste to be processed in a
very small space and, therefore,
more renewable electricity –
approximately 15% more – to be
produced from each metric tonne
of incoming waste.
One example of the on-going
international expansion of the
Group and its technologies is the
WTP Vallès Occidental (Vacarisses, Spain)

construction and commissioning
of a high-performance digester
completed in 2012 Ulsan, a town
in south-east Korea, with a
processing capacity of 30,000
mt/yr of the liquid fraction of
kitchen waste and sewage.
Because the waste is very liquid,
with a dry content of just 5%, i.e.
very similar to wastewater
treatment plant sludge, the best
technology for this type of waste
was a high-performance digester.
Recovery of paints and sol-
vents
HERA has a process for the
recovery of car industry paint and
solvents (both hazardous waste)
which is unique in Europe: once
recycled, the materials are retur-
ned to the customer to be re-
used or sold on the market as a
new product.
For six years now, non-recyclable
solvents and paints have been
used in the manufacture of fuel
for cement works.
One of the main activities of this
plant in Cantabria is the recovery
of silver from analogical photo-
graphic plates and liquids (hazar-
dous waste). It can also recover
PET from x-rays which is then
sold as a by-product.
This plant can process 1 metric
tonne of x-rays per day. The
reduction in the number of x-rays
processed and the shift towards
materials with lower silver and
PET contents are the reasons for
the drop in the quantities recove-
red.
Upgrading of steelworks dust
(Óxidos Recumet® system)
The Óxidos Recumet® system
increases the zinc content of the
exhaust fumes from the smelting
gas scrubbing systems in electric
arc steelworks (steelworks dust)
and transforms it into material
suitable for use in the zinc manu-
facturing industry.
HERA currently has a plant
installed in the Nervacero steel
works (Celsa Group) which
handles all the dust generated at
this steelworks. Each metric
tonne of treated dust yields 0.8
mt of Óxidos Recumet®. In
addition the steelworks recovers
0.12 mt of iron to be processed
which used to be carried away
with the smelting gas due to the
inherent inefficiency of steel
production. As a result the Óxi-
dos Recumet® system offers
greater efficiency in several
respects: less material needs to
be transported, a high percenta-
ge of the dust’s iron content is
reclaimed as steel, and CO2
emissions are reduced.
Paint and solvent recovery plant (Palencia, Spain)

In early 2011, the European Che-
micals Agency rated the Óxidos
Recumet® system as an “emer-
ging technology” in the upgra-
ding of steelworks dust.
“The Óxidos Recumet®
system has avoided an avera-
ge of 8,000 km per year(1)
”
Recovery of construction and
demolition waste (CDW)
The construction industry consu-
mes large amounts of raw mate-
rials and generates a great deal
of demolition rubble and rejects.
According to the 2007-15 PNIR
(Spanish Integrated Waste Sche-
me), Navarre (where the plant is
located) produced 459,685mt of
CDW in 2008.
The Government of Navarre
passed Decree 23/2011, which
admended Royal Decree
105/2008 dd February 1st gover-
ning the production and manage-
ment of construction and demoli-
tion waste (CDW).
The Navarre decree enlarges
upon certain aspects (it defines
the deposits required as guaran-
tees, defines when CDW is class
ed as municipal waste, states the
technical specifications of
treatment plants, gives recovery
priority over disposal, etc) inten-
ded to foster and develop CDW
management.
CDW is a type of waste that
fluctuates in line with the cons-
truction industry, making it
difficult to know how this sector
will evolve in the near future or
forecast the amount of waste
that will be produced. Therefore,
the best way to absorb all
treatment capacity and exploit
the existing facilities to the full, is
to give recovery priority over
disposal.
This situation has deteriorated in
recent years because the crisis in
the construction industry has
caused the amount of waste
entering treatment plants to
plummet, and also a drastic
decline in market prices. Because
this type of waste is not controll
ed by the authorities, the easy
way out for many is illegal dump
ing. The companies treating such
waste cannot compete and are
doing their utmost to avoid
having to close their facilities
down.
Integrated management of
old tyres (OTs)
In 2011-12, HERA consolidated its
old tyre activities (collection,
shipment and recovery). Against a
backdrop of shrinking markets
aggravated by the fact that the
recovered materials are used
mainly in the public sector
(children’s playgrounds, powder
for asphalt, etc), HERA nonethe-
less managed to quadruple the
amount of materials recovered
and was able to double the metric
tonnes of old tyres treated.
Process engineering managed to
cut operating costs, increase
productivity and improve the yield
of the resulting by-products
(metals, re-cycled tyres and
textiles).
In keeping with the Group’s
commitment to be involved with
the entire life cycle of its products
and its desire to deal successfully
with future challenges, HERA has
signed an agreement with the US
company Lehigh Technologies for
the development and sale in
Europe of latest-generation
micronized rubber powder (MRP)
which can be reused in the manu-
facture of new tyres and other
rubber products, and also in
plastics and primers. This agree-
ment entails the construction of a
new MRP production line and the
recruitment of staff in the area.
As a result, HERA will be the only
European company to provide
this service and aims to be the
first European manufacturer of
this material with a solid customer
portfolio.
(1)
In comparison with the distances that would have been travelled if the steelwork dust had been treated in the nearest plant
using alternative technology.
Integral old tyre treatment plant (Navarre, Spain)

Technologies developed by
the Group:
BioDigester Integra®
In the period covered by this
report, the HERA Group has
studied and designed solutions
for the current economic crisis
that not only reduce waste
management investment and
operating costs, but also maximi-
se their upgrading to materials
and energy resources. The BioDi-
gester Integra® (BD-i) technolo-
gy is the result of the Group’s
efforts in this field.
BD-i is designed to be part of a
mechanical and biological
treatment centre handing solid
municipal waste. This low-cost
anaerobic digestion technology is
incorporated into the original
land using civil engineering
designed and operated cell by
cell (on a rotating basis to make
the very most of the available
space) that reaps the benefits of
a conventional controlled landfill
and a biomethane plant.
Generating syngas by gasifi-
cation of non-recyclable
waste and biomass
HERA Group is well versed in
using different gasification
techniques to capture energy
from waste, which are more
energy efficient and environmen-
tally cleaner than conventional
processes.
As regards the management of
solid municipal waste (SMW),
HERA’s experience includes the
development, construction and
commissioning of the world’s
very first direct SMW gasification
plant using plasma torches. Built
in 2007 in Canada in conjunction
with Plasco Energy Group, this
plant can handle 30,000 mt/yr of
SMW.
This innovative technology
featuring both gasification and
vitrification is an alternative
solution for the treatment of
non-recyclable urban and indus-
trial waste which could otherwise
only be incinerated or sent to a
landfill. This is the most efficient,
clean and scalable technology for
processing waste that could
otherwise not be upgraded
In addition, because of the
current economic climate, the
Group not only worked on scaling
these gasification technologies
up to commercial scale but also
on ensuring they are economica-
lly feasible. This approach means
that simple solutions can be
provided after pre-treatment,
such as integrated gasification by
means of fluidised bed reactors, a
system enabling suitable gasifica-
tion with a minimum amount of
air thanks to a large capacity
heat exchanger.
This solution, in conjunction with
standard dry channel emission
control systems, enables a highly
competitive overall gasification
process in the 20MWt to 60MWt
range.
In addition, HERA has started
applying gasification to the
following materials:
Dry sludge from wastewater••
treatment plants.
Dry sludge with high calcium••
carbonate content from paper
mills.
Fluff from plastic and foam••
parts of crushed cars.
Aqueous solutions of glycerine••
(by-product of the bio-diesel
manufacturing process).
Biomass. Splinters of wood••
species very likely to produce
extremely high levels of tar.
Materials with a carbon con-••
tent of more than 50% of their
dry weight. The results ob-
tained show that gasification
with oxygen or enriched air
can produce extremely high
quality syngas, with an LCV of
more than 10Mj/Nm3
.
In the 2011 – 2012 period, the
Group’s Industrial Gasification
Pilot Plant in Castellgalí was used
to optimise the amount of energy
recovered from biomass: a key
factor in dealing with the challen-
ge of replacing imported fossil
fuels by renewable, local fuels.
Efforts focused on producing
syngas by different gasification
technologies:

Down-draft, vertical bed»»
Horizontal, moving bed»»
reactor
Fluidised bed reactor»»
Progress has also been made in
fine-tuning the scrubbing sys-
tems used for the syngas produ-
ced by gasification and particu-
larly in optimising the use of this
gas in internal combustion engi-
nes. On-going research has
focussed on spark ignition engi-
nes with dual operating diesel
cycle, resulting in a considerable
percentage of diesel being
replaced by syngas.
R&D+i
In the framework of the project for
enhancing and optimising biomass
gasification with cogeneration,
carried out between April 2009
and September 2012 with the help
of a CDTI grant, HERA has conti-
nued to conduct tests to study
energy efficiency with a view to
maximising the net power output
of processes designed to cover
combined heat and electricity
requirements.
The Group has also acquired valua-
ble experience in oxy-steam-gasifi-
cation processes and gasification
featuring steam recycling, thereby
enabling optimum gas scrubbing
resulting in extremely pure syngas
suitable for the chemical synthesis
of biofuels or the production of
hydrogen.
Recovery of WWTP sludge
leachate concentrate
From concentrated WWTP
sludge to materials (Alximix®
system).
For ten years, the Group has
been carrying out specific indus-
trial-scale tests at the Vacarisses
pilot plant, adapted to treat
WWTP sludge and concentrates.
This plant can handle 30,000 mt/
yr of WWTP sludge and concen-
trate generated by the treatment
of wastewater. The concentrate
treated is the liquid effluent
generated by reverse osmosis or
the pressmoulded concentrate.
This plant can also, however, treat
concentrate generate by other
physical, chemical and biological
processes.
The Alximix® system also combi-
nes thermopress heating with
physical/chemical neutralisation
to convert the concentrate into
dry powder (called neutral)
without producing any type of
waste or effluent and with emis-
sions compliant with the strictest
standards.
This neutral material can be used
as rawmix to manufacture ce-
ment with fewer CaCO3
, energy
and CO2
emissions. It can also be
used in road foundations, as a
filler for asphalt, in tile manufac-
turing, etc. Industrial-scale tests
to manufacture calcium oxide
from neutral have already been
successfully carried out.
WWTP sludge and leachate concentrate upgrading plant (Vacarisses, Spain)

To confirm its utility as rawmix in
the manufacture of Portland
cement, an industrial test and
production scheme was carried
out in cement works as part of
the CENIT (Spanish Consortia for
Strategic Technical Research)
Sostagua project. The aim of this
scheme is to acquire new
knowledge that can be helpful
when creating new products, pro-
cesses or services, thereby
helping to improve the technolo-
gical standing of Spanish manu-
facturing.
“The CENIT Scheme confirmed
the technological validity of this
neutral material as a component
of Portland cement rawmix
without affecting the process,
regardless of the rawmix pro-
portion and stream”
From WWTP sludge to renewable
energy.
This activity using the Group’s
own high-performance, biome-
thanisation technology to treat
sludge from municipal water
treatment plants and generate
biogas, was explained in the
previous section ‘Generation of
biogas by anaerobic digestion of
organic matter’.
Services provided
Mechanical and biological
treatment:
Mechanical treatment for the••
separation, sorting and reco-
very of the non-organic frac-
tion of solid municipal waste
Biological treatment for the••
recovery of materials and/or
energy from the organic frac-
tion of solid municipal waste.
Generation of biogas by anaero-
bic digestion of organic matter
(biomethanisation):
Engineering, construction and••
maintenance of biometha-
ne plants to process sludge
from municipal wastewater
treatment plants and foodpro-
cessing waste to generate re-
newable energy and compost.
Recovery of paint and solvents:
Re-use of solvents.••
Recycling and manufacture••
of paints and coatings from
waste paints.
Manufacture of fuel for cement••
works.
Recovery of precious metals:
Recovery of silver from pho-••
tography fluids and analogical
X-rays.
Recovery of PET from analogi-••
cal and digital X-rays.
Recovery of steelworks dust by
means of the Óxidos Recumet®
System.
Recovery of construction and
demolition waste (CDW):
CDW sorting, processing and••
treatment.
Recycling of old tyres:
Collection, recycling and new••
use of old tyres: closed-cycle
system.
Biomethane treatment using
Biodigester Integra® technology:
Design engineering, cons-••
truction and management of
plants.
Generating syngas by gasification
of non-recyclable waste and
biomass:
Design engineering, cons-••
truction and management of
gasification plants.
Recovery of WWTP sludge and
concentrate – Alximix® system:
Engineering of processes for••
transforming WWTP sludge
and leaching concentrate into
new, recycled raw materials for
use in cement plants or in the
process itself.

Main environmental pressures:
From waste to materials / renewable energy
2010 2011 2012 Units *
Raw materials consumed:
- Phosphoric acid, additives,
filler pigments, resins
6.88 7.00 4.88 mt C
- Calcium chloride 3.4 8.4 3.1 mt E
- Borax 0.04 0.11 0.04 mt M
- Sodium carbonate 0.08 0.05 0.05 mt M
- Sodium nitrate 0.08 0 0 mt M
- Sodium sulphide 0.18 18.42 16.80 mt M
- Fixative reagent 1,440 648 340 l M
- Iron chloride 40% 7,700 250 130 Kg M
- Soda flakes 0.43 0.25 0.13 mt M
- Lime 173 209 299 mt C
Emissions:
- Particles 0.01 0.01 0.02 mt M
- CO2
INS INS INS mt M
- CO 0.037 0.006 0.017 mt M
- SO2
0.029 0.013 0.026 mt M
- NOX 0.048 0.016 0.031 mt M
Amount of mains electricity bought 165,104 520,541 395,559 kWh M
Water consumption:
- Mains water 1,309 2,153 973 m3
C
- Rain water NAP 15,768 10,461 m3
E
- Recycled water (permeate) NAP 23,195 15,160 m3
C
Diesel oil consumption 23,421 29,807 28,309 l C
Propane consumption 1.19 1.05 0.63 mt M
Total amount of waste generated:
- Water and solvent sent for upgrading 368 463 426 mt E
- Stabilised waste 2,879 2,844 3,059 mt C
- CDW residue 551 701 108 mt M
- WTP residue NAP 88,840 77,735 mt M
Use of in-house subproducts: C
- Sludge from dewatering 53 35 63 mt C
SPAIN
* Estimated (E), Measured (M), Calculated (C) NAP: Not applicable / INS: Insignificant

Comments about the main
environmental pressures
Seventy percent of the paint and
solvent distillation sludge is
recovered by an external waste
handler, 20% is used in paint
recycling processes and the
remaining 10% is reused in the
same solvent distillation process.
In addition to managing waste
itself, the Vallès Occidental WTP
also subjects all the air inside its
facilities to acid chemical
treatment and biological
treatment before releasing it into
the atmosphere. As mentioned
earlier, the stabilised organic
fraction is to be used to cover
and restore the Coll Cardús
controlled landfill in the future,
where the waste generated will
be deposited.
The impact of emissions and
water consumption at this plant
have been minimised too. The
plant is powered by electricity
obtained from biogas captured at
the Coll Cardús controlled landfill
whilst the water used in the
plant’s processes is harvested
from the roofs and the leachate
generated by the WWTP at the
Coll Cardús controlled landfill.
High-performance digestion plant (Ulsan, South Korea)

35Recovery activities I From wastewater to clean water
Recovery activities
Thanks to advances in telecommu-
nications in recent years, internet
networks can connect thousands
of people with creators around
the globe and generate funding
for independent, alternative pro-
jects.
4.1.2 From wastewater to clean water:
Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
Treatment of leachates
Spain
Volume of leachate treated (m3
) 119,192 358,100 156,918 M
Volume of permeate generated and re-used (m3
) 192,381 139,481 111,432 M
Latin America
Volume of leachate treated using biological,
physical and chemical means (m3
)
407,840 153,315 207,231 M
Treatment of municipal and industrial
wastewater
Spain
Volume of water treated for third parties (m3
) 1,166,671 366,593 301,586 M

Recovery activities I From wastewater to clean water36
Leachate treatment(2)
It is already 15 years since the
Group built its first reverse
osmosis plant at the Coll Cardús
controlled landfill. These facilities
– pioneers at that time – enabled
processing of this type of waste
to meet even more exacting
requirements by transforming
leachate with high levels of
non-biodegradable organic
elements, salinity, nitrogen, AOX
and other inhibiting materials into
clean water suitable for being
re-used.
This experience has enabled the
Group to offer its customers the
most suitable membrane techno-
logy depending on the origin of
the wastewater (CL, ecoparks,
composting plants, etc) and also
to develop integrated technolo-
gies to make such treatments
more efficient in the design,
implementation, operating and
management phases. In this
respect the Group has two plants
that are global benchmarks: one
in Catalonia able to handle
200m3
/day and one in Galicia
with a capacity of 180m3
/day.
In Latin America, the Group has
pioneered the adoption and
implementation of wastewater
treatment technologies in waste
management. For 14 years HERA
has been using a physical, chemi-
cal and biological treatment to
process the leachate generated
at the Doña Juana Bogotá (Co-
lombia) landfill with a capacity of
700 m3
/day. This treatment
capacity was doubled in 2008
following an enlargement to
include a biological pre-
treatment.
The first two plants in Colombia
using membranes to process
leachates were built at HERA’s
landfill in Colombia: one with a
capacity of 170 m3
/day and the
other, 300 m3
/day.
The Group’s strategy in Brazil has
been to provide each customer
with the most flexible and adap-
table solution. In 2012 HERA
installed the first water treatment
plant using reverse osmosis,
under a lease agreement, able to
handle 100 m3
/day of leachate.
This plant currently works for two
landfills in the state of Rio Grande
do Sul and the aim is to imple-
ment this venture throughout
Latin America.
Industrial and municipal
wastewater treatment
Re-use, in the sense of the stage
after treatment, is a cornerstone
of HERA’s strategy. Mention must
be made of the growing number
of membrane bioreactor module
(MRB) applications being imple-
mented – HERA has more than
40 operative in different types of
(2)
Leachate features on the EU List of Waste but is handled by means of processes similar to those used for wastewater
treatment which is why they are both mentioned here in the same section.
Industrial wastewater treatment plant (Tarragona, Spain)

facilities (municipal wastewater,
chemical and cosmetic industries,
vineyards, etc). Two examples
where MRB technology was
implemented in 2011-2012 are (1)
the enlargement of the WWTP at
the Goma Camps S.A.U. paper
mill in Tarragona which increased
the daily volume of wastewater
treated from 30 to 40 m3
; and (2)
the construction of an industrial
wastewater treatment plant in
Vacarisses (Barcelona) with an
average treatment capacity of
300 m3
/day handing the was-
tewater generated by an indus-
trial estate.
In addition to the MRB technolo-
gy providing treated water of
excellent quality suitable for
re-use in compliance with Royal
Decree 1620/2007 dd December
7, HERA also has other technolo-
gies spanning the widest possible
spectrum of the environmental
issues: IFAS, anaerobic digestion
of highly contaminated water,
ultrafiltering, etc.
The final step towards maximum
resource recovery was the incor-
poration of pressurised ultrafilte-
ring technology for tertiary
treatment, re-use and potabilisa-
tion that eliminate a high percen-
tage of microorganisms with low
maintenance costs.
“The Group has built a pilot
tertiary treatment plant able
to produce 100 m3
/day of
re-used water which is cu-
rrently conducting final tests
to check the feasibility of this
type of treatment in a chemi-
cal industry”
The second cornerstone of the
HERA Group strategy is their
specialisation in water treatment
for small towns of 30 to 1000
inhabitants. More than one
hundred of these compact water
treatment plants with the brand
names of Bioclere® and Aqua-
Paq® are already operative on
campsites, rural hotels, ski re-
sorts, etc.
And finally, the Group’s third key
activity is the treatment of sludge
generated by wastewater
treatment by either dewatering
during the treatment process or
employing in-house sludge
recovery technologies:
Production of biogas and••
biofertilisers by means of high-
performance anaerobic diges-
tion (for more information, see
section 4.1.1 From waste to ma-
terials / renewable energy).
Production of neutral material••
by means of the sludge reco-
very technology developed by
HERA (for more information,
see section 4.1.1 From waste to
materials / renewable energy).
Mobile sludge dewatering••
plant for occasional needs.
After accumulating technologies
and expertise at more than 40
water treatment plants in Spain,
the Group is now starting to
make inroads into other markets
with great potential. In Argelia,
for example, as a result of the
waste treatment scheme desig-
ned to encourage the renovation
and enlargement of the country’s
water treatment network, HERA
plans to take part in tenders
related to this scheme in con-
junction with Algerian companies
and entities.

In-house environmental labo-
ratory
HERA has a laboratory to analyse
the physical and chemical parame-
ters of industrial and municipal
wastewater, potable water, under-
ground water, leachates, waste and
contaminated soil pursuant to
standardised test methods using
duly calibrated equipment and
highly qualified staff.
The laboratory is ISO 9001 certi-
fied to assure its quality, and its
technical reliability is ensured by
an in-house system based on ISO
17025. To check the accuracy of
analyses we periodically take part
in ENAC-certified comparative
calibrations organised by CALI-
TAX-LABAQUA.
R&D+i
Between 2008 and the first
quarter of 2012, HERA took part
in a consortium consisting of
companies, universities and
research centres to carry out a
project entitled Cenit Demeter
designed to diagnose the impact
of climate change on grapevines
and find solutions to remedy it.
Because climate change is asso-
ciated with a lack of water re-
sources and because HERA has a
great deal of experience in
recycling and re-using water in
the wine industry, HERA has
contributed by building two pilot
plants featuring membrane
technologies to recycle water in
this industry. The Group has
invested a total of €750,000 in this
project, half of which has been
funded by the CDTI (industrial
technology development centre).
“The findings of the experien-
ce in these two pilot plants
gave rise to several studies
published in Desalination, the
scientific wastewater journal”
Services provided
Leachate treatment
Construction and operation of••
treatment plants employing
membrane separation tech-
nology (reverse osmosis and
multi-membrane systems) tai-
lored to suit each CL, ecopark,
composting plant, etc.
Rental of mobile reverse os-••
mosis units.
Industrial and municipal
wastewater treatment
Construction and operating of••
wastewater treatment plants
(full-scale and mobile versions).
Construction and operating of••
sludge recovery plants.
On-site dewatering of waste••
water treatment sludge by
means of mobile, containeri-
sed centrifuge units shipped
to site on a drivetrain.
Integrated management of••
wastewater treatment plants:
Engineering management.--
Day-to-day running of the--
treatment plant.
Preventive and remedial--
maintenance of equipment
and facilities.
Analytical control of the--
process and quality of
intake waste and final
effluent.
Waste management: pre---
treatment residue (oils and
fats, grit, sieved residue,
filtered residue, etc), biolo-
gical, physical and chemi-
cal sludge including ship-
ment and treatment at the
Group’s own or external
treatment facilities depen-
ding on the type of waste.
Supply of reagents and--
spare parts for equipment
Dismantling of industrial
activities:
Minimisation of environmental••
liabilities on industrial site
Assurance of compliance with••
in-house standards (due dili-
gence) and applicable envi-
ronmental legislation
Underground interventions••
(aquifers and soils), overhead
and underground water tanks,
waste, remains of raw mate-
rials and finished products,
laboratories (quality control,
R&D, etc), destruction of confi-
dential archives, restricted use
products/materials, limited or
prohibited products (asbes-
tos/asbestos cement, dielec-
trics with PBCs, radioactive
items such as lightning con-
ductors, smoke detectors, etc.

Environmental advisory service in
Spain:
Environmental assessment••
on activities pursuant to Act
20/2009 dd December 4th
governing the control and
remediation of environmental
activities.
Environmental sustainability••
report for town planning sche-
mes: Act 6/2009 dd April 28th
governing the environmental
assessment of plans and pro-
grammes.
Deforestation schemes:•• De-
cree 268/1996 governing the
periodic and selective felling
of trees in the zone of influen-
ce of overhead electricity
cables to protect such installa-
tions and prevent forest fires.
Inventories of effluents and••
waste and minimisation stu-
dies.
Environmental Impact Studies,••
etc.
The indicators listed below cover
not only the wastewater
treatment services provided for
customers but also the manage-
ment of leachates generated at
the controlled landfills owned by
the Group (see section 4.2 Dispo-
sal activities).
Industrial wastewater treatment plant (Barcelona, Spain)

From wastewater to clean water
Treatment of leachates 2010 2011 2012 Units *
Raw materials consumed
Reagents 1,559 1,259 1,317 mt M
Quicklime 9,070 22,561 16,472 mt M
Volume of concentrate generated 101,707 63,353 54,287 m3
M
Amount of electricity generated on-site
used for own consumption
7,429,819 12,086,970 9,617,799 kWh C
Treatment of municipal and industrial
wastewater
Volume of treated water released
into sewer network
0 758,808 916,974 m3
M
Raw materials consumed
(chloride & ferric sulphate)
2,069 951 1,063 mt M
Sludge generated 6,306 3,278 3,455 mt M
Amount of electricity bought
from the grid
INS INS INS kWh M
Comment:»»
This information is not available for Latin America.--
The Coll Cardús controlled landfill
has been operating for many
years now hence the gradual
decline in the amount of leachate
it generates. The permeate
resulting from treating leachate
with reverse osmosis is re-used to
water roads to prevent dust
being raised by lorries and to
stabilise organic matter produced
at the Vallés Occidental WTP.
In 2011, 3,278mt of sludge were
generated by industrial and
municipal wastewater treatment,
of which 2,766mt were disposed
of in the Group’s Class 2
controlled landfill at Coll Cardús
and 512mt were divided amongst
the recovery of cement works
materials, composting and physi-
cal-chemical treatment and
disposal at other landfills.
In 2012, 3,455mt of sludge were
generated by industrial and
municipal wastewater treatment,
of which 1,926mt were disposed
of in the Group’s Class 2 contro-
lled landfill at Coll Cardús and
1,529mt were divided amongst
the recovery of cement works
materials, composting and physi-
cal-chemical treatment and
disposal at other landfills.
The sludge and concentrate
generated by the Group’s contro-
lled landfills in Latin America are
dewatered and fed into one of
their own hazardous waste cells.
INS: Insignificant
SPAIN

41Recovery activities I From emissions to renewable energy
Recovery activities
“Lend your garden” is a common
practice in many French regions.
The idea is for owners to share
their gardens and let keen garde-
ners grow things in them
4.1.3 From emissions to renewable energy
Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
Total volume of biogas produced (m3
) 29,311,658 28,865,497 31,366,371 C
Energy uses:
Total renewable electricity sold to the grid
(kWh/yr)
46,634,696 40,577,025 46,232,025 C
Number of cars running on
Biogás Natural®(1)
9 5 5 C
Comment:»»
(1)
-- There is a petrol station at the Group’s Coll Cardús CL to provide the biofuel Biogás Natural® for the Group’s fleet of
cars.
preter
son jardin
^

Recovery activities I From emissions to renewable energy42
Biogas capture and recovery
Energy recovery
The anaerobic digestion of the
organic matter deposited in
controlled landfills generates a
significant volume of leachates
and biogas emissions (more than
50% of which is methane). Each
tonne of methane released into
the atmosphere contributes as
much to global warming as 21mt
of CO2
.
HERA’s main challenge was to
mitigate greenhouse gases by
capturing and treating these
emissions. HERA subsequently
acquired great expertise in
transforming these emissions into
renewable electricity at both
their own facilities and those of
their customers. Recently, howe-
ver, HERA has also focussed on
developing technology of their
own for converting biogas into
Biogás Natural® (bio-methane)
and even hydrogen in order to
cater more effectively for
society’s needs by providing not
only technology but also an ideal
combination of expertise in order
to make the very most of all
types of synergy.
By capturing the biogas genera-
ted at the controlled landfills and
anaerobic digesters owned by
HERA and using it to generate
electricity, 280,000mt of direct
emissions of CO2
were avoided in
2012. This is not reflected in the
respective EN16 environmental
indicator because this edition of
our report does not yet feature
the calculation method needed
to integrate the direct and indi-
rect greenhouse gases produced
by the Group’s activities in Spain.
One of the aims of the next
editions will, therefore, be to
include such emissions.
From 2012 onwards, this activity
has been affected by the reforms
to the energy industry being
enacted by the Spanish govern-
ment:
January 2012:•• Royal Decree
1/2012 which suspended pre-
assignment procedures and
eliminated the economic in-
centives related to the special
regime governing renewable
energy and cogeneration;
March 2012:•• Royal Decree
13/20122 which reduced the
system’s regulated costs,
mainly by adjusting transpor-
tation and distribution rates;
July 2012:•• Royal Decree
20/2012 which enacted mea-
sures concerning the remune-
ration of systems on mainland
and insular Spain, territorial
supplements, adjustments in
transportation rates and sli-
ding increases to access tolls
amongst others;
Royal Decree of December••
15/2012 enacting tax provi-
sions for sustainable energy;
And finally the publication••
on February 2nd 2013 in the
Spanish Official Gazette of
Royal Decree 2/2013 intended
to reduce the tariff deficit (the
difference between regulated
revenue and costs) and avoid
further increases to final elec-
tricity rates by immediate ad-
justments to the remuneration
paid for the regulated activi-
ties in this industry. This royal
decree eliminates the bench-
mark premium in force until
now (and also the upper and
lower thresholds of production
prices) and establishes a regu-
lated tariff for these facilities
(renewable and cogeneration).
In addition, this decree res-••
tricts the right to choose to
sell energy on the market by
preventing facilities governed
by the special regime which
choose to sell on the open
market then being allowed to
sell at the regulated tariff.
Against this background of reduc-
tions in the revenue obtained from
selling renewable electricity, the
Group has, therefore, decided to
try and reduce costs and maximi-
se electricity generation.

Flexible mechanisms contempla-
ted in the Kyoto protocol: CDM
and JI projects
The Group’s experience in energy
from biogas capture and waste
management, together with its
desire to contribute proactively
to reducing the gas emissions
that cause climate change, drove
HERA to undertake projects
within the framework of the
flexible mechanisms contempla-
ted in the Kyoto protocol. In
2006, two clean development
mechanisms (CDM) were under-
taken in Latin America followed
by other joint implementation (JI)
projects: one in Ukraine in 2010
to capture the gas from four
landfills, and another in 2011 in
Bielorrusia to capture the gas
from three landfills.
The CDM project at the Fundo las
Cruces landfill in Chillán (Chile) is
already being validated following
its UN registration in February
2011.
The JI projects will enable a
reduction of some 3.7 million
tonnes of CO2
equivalent in Ukrai-
ne and Belarus. Executive sum-
maries of the different projects
were drawn up in 2011 including
particularly the construction of
the infrastructures necessary for
the extraction, capture, piping
and use of the biogas energy
found in landfills.
Conversion into Biogás Natural®
(biomethane)
The Group always works hard to
make progress and has proprie-
tary technology to produce
Biogás Natural® based on captu-
ring the CO2
found in biogas by
means of amine scrubbing,
resulting in what is known as
biomethane (99% pure methane
obtained from renewable sour-
ces). This Biogás Natural® is
suitable for use where natural gas
is usually employed, e.g. bio-fuel
for vehicles, injection into the
natural gas grid and for manufac-
turing hydrogen.
HERA has three facilities produ-
cing Biogás Natural®, each using
a different source of biogas:
landfill, wastewater treatment
and the anaerobic digestion of
food processing waste:
In 2005 the plant alongside••
the Vallès Occidental WTP
(Vacarisses) was inaugurated
with a capacity for handling
100 Nm3
/hr of biogas from the
Coll Cardús controlled landfill.

Recovery activities I From emissions to renewable energy44
In 2006 the plant located••
at the Murcia wastewater
treatment plant was inaugura-
ted with a capacity for han-
dling 15 Nm3
/hr of the biogas
generated by this wastewater
treatment plant.
In 2013 the plant for producing••
biomethane from the biogas
released by the anaerobic
digestion of food processing
waste, Agrobiomet project,
will be inaugurated. This plant
situated in Requena (Valencia)
will have a flow of 100 Nm3
/hr.
The Group’s aim is to have a
gas-grid injection connection by
2014.
R&D+i
HERA participates in the Agro-
biomet project (2010-2013) as a
technological partner supplying
the Biogás Natural® manufactu-
ring plant. This project is part of
the Spanish Ministry of Science
and Innovation’s Impact Scheme
which has a subsidy budget of
€500,000.
“Since 2011 HERA has belon-
ged to the group of experts
actively contributing to the
EU standardisation of Biogás
Natural® being carried out
by CEN PC 408”
Conversion of Biogás Natu-
ral® into hydrogen
In June 2012, to ensure the most
efficient use of Biogás Natural®
(biomethane) production, the
Group bought the French com-
pany Albhyon which has years of
experience in hydrogen produc-
tion technology. Converting
biogas into hydrogen enables it
to be upgraded almost 100% with
a fuel cell for use in vehicles or
industry.
“Incorporating hydrogen fuel
cells into electric engines not
only trebles their autonomy
but also extends the life of
the vehicle’s battery”
R&D+i
In 2012, ADEME, the French
government’s agency for the
environment and energy, provi-
ded funding of €150,000 for a
project in which HERA trans-
forms the biogas from a contro-
lled landfill into hydrogen which
is then fed into a fuel cell for
electrical vehicles.
Services provided
Biogas capture and upgrading
Implantation of biogas pro-••
duction and gasification mo-
del at controlled landfills.
Design of biogas capture sys-••
tem.
Construction of turn-key••
biogas-powered combined
cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant
projects using combustion en-
gines, turbines and generators.
Operating and maintenance of••
these plants with own staff to
optimise production.
Transformation into biomethane
for injection into gas grid or for
use as biofuel in vehicles
Design, construction and••
operation of biogas upgrading
plants.
Biogas scrubbing and upgra-••
ding for injection of biome-
thane into natural gas grid or
for use as biofuel in vehicles:
Biogás Natural®.
Transformation of biogas into
hydrogen
Production of hydrogen by••
using steam to transform bio-
gas.
The following information inclu-
des both the upgrading of energy
from biogas capture carried out
at the Group’s own facilities
(landfills and biomethane plants)
and the biogas capture and
upgrading services that the
Group provides at its customers’
controlled landfills.

From emissions to renewable energy
From emissions to renewable energy 2010 2011 2012 Units *
Total consumption of electricity
generated by the plant
1,527,917 12,291,841 14,004,379 kWh C
Total mains water consumption INS INS INS C
Type and weight of emissions released
into air (Coll Cardús CL):
CO 1,523 679 679 mg / Nm3
M
NOx 1,258 799 799 mg / Nm3
M
COVs 3,592 2,290 2,290 mg / Nm3
M
Total number and volume of most
significant accidental spills
None None None C
All the electricity used at the
Vallès Occidental WTP (some 8
million kWh/year) is generated
by the Coll Cardús controlled
landfill.
Pursuant to the environmental
licence, levels of CO, NOx and
COVs must be measured every
six years. Subsequent readings
will be taken by a company
certified by Spanish authorities in
2014.
These pressures only refer to the
upgrading of biogas energy
carried out in Spain and Europe
because no electricity is genera-
ted from biogas in Latin America.
* Estimated (E), Measured (M), Calculated (C) INS: Insignificant
SPAIN
Biogas upgrading plant

Recovery activities I From contaminated land to usable space46
Recovery activities
The Incredible Edible movement,
the brainchild of the British eco-
nomist, Pam Warhurst, consists
of planting vegetables, herbs
and fruit trees in public spaces
around the town of Todmorten.
They are taken care of by vo-
lunteers working two mornings
a month. The town collects the
produce free at harvest time.
4.1.4 From contaminated land to usable space:
Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
Spain
Volume of decontaminated soil (m3
) 715,000 686,400 710,600 C(1)
Decontaminated soil (mt) 325,000 312,000 323,000 M
Soil decontaminated on site 284,000 243,000 235,000 M
Soil decontaminated off site 41,000 69,000 88,000 M
Volume of water decontaminated (m3
) 84,000 75,000 71,000 M
Portugal
Volume of soil decontaminated (m3
) 110,000 33,000 33,000 C(1)
Soil decontaminated (mt): 50,000 15,000 15,000 M
Soil decontaminated on site 32,000 30,000 15,000 M
More than 30 towns in England
have already joined the project.
incredible
edible

47Recovery activities I From contaminated land to usable space
Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
Soil decontaminated off site 4,500 0 0 M
) 8,000 9,000 9,000 M
Scotland
Volume of soil decontaminated (m3
) NAP NAP 55,000 C(1)
Soil decontaminated (mt): NAP NAP 25,000 M
Soil decontaminated on site NAP NAP 25,000 M
Soil decontaminated off site NAP NAP 0 M
) NAP NAP 0 M
Comment:»»
(1)
-- A factor of 2.2 was used to convert metric tonnes into m3
of decontaminated soil.
Cutting-edge soil remediation
technology
The accelerated growth of cities
has forced the land use of areas
originally declared to be indus-
trial to be changed. This, in
addition to Royal Decree 9/2005
dated January 4th (which makes
soil remediation compulsory for
certain industries) and Spain’s
draft bill on Waste and Contami-
nated Soil (designed to avoid
waste and reduce the adverse
effects of waste generation and
management), plus measures
designed to reduce the global
impact of the use of resources
and improving the efficiency with
which they are used, have made
it necessary to delimit the res-
ponsibilities and costs associated
with the potential sources of
contamination to be found in
soils and also, when applicable,
to decontaminate them effecti-
vely.
On the international scene,
developing countries are begin-
ning to become aware of environ-
mental needs and are drafting
development and investment
plans in this realm. These coun-
tries are also developing strategic
plans for soil remediation and the
recovery of ecosystems.
In response to these needs, the
Group provides integrated soil
remediation services ranging
from detecting, specifying and
assessing the hazards involved,
to proposing and implementing
remedial actions using the most
suitable on-site (bioremediation,
chemical oxidation, soil vacuum,
etc) and ad situ (thermal desorp-
tion, scrubbing, landfarming, etc)
soil remediation techniques
which, furthermore, respect the
priority set forth in Royal Decree
9/2005 dated January 4th men-
tioned earlier because they avoid
the generation, transfer and
disposal of waste in landfills.

Recovery activities I From contaminated land to usable space48
The Group also provides solu-
tions designed to minimise the
impact of industrial accidents
and the ensuing dispersion of
pollutants and thereby reduce
any ensuing damage and risks.
In the course of these two years,
the Group has consolidated its
international growth and become
one of the world’s foremost soil
remediation companies with
projects in Kuwait, Italy, England,
Portugal and Spain.
R&D+i
The soil department is a partner
in the EIADES scheme for envi-
ronmental impact evaluations
and the environmental restora-
tion of contaminated sites (www.
eiades.com), developed within
the framework of R&D subsidies
for research teams in the Region
of Madrid pursuant to regulations
679/2009 dd February 19th
issued by the Ministry of Educa-
tion and coordinated by IMIDRA,
the Madrid institute for food and
farming R&D.
Services provided
Cutting-edge soil remediation
technology:
Research, characterisation and••
decontamination of subsoil
by on-site remediation using
the Group’s own equipment:
multiphase extraction, soil va-
cuum by extraction of volatile
compounds, pumping, double
pumping, bio-remediation,
chemical oxidation.
Excavation and off-site••
treatment.
Own machinery for applying••
the different remediation
techniques suitable for each
project.
Soil remediation (Biscay, Spain)

49Recovery activities I From contaminated land to usable space
From contaminated land to usable space
2010 2011 2012 2011 2012 2012 Units *
Diesel oil consumption(2)
0.09 0.08 0.08 0 0 0.15 I/mt M
Mains water consumption(2)
0.15 0.15 0.15 0.07 0.07 0.17 m3
/mt M
Volume of re-used water(2)
0.11 0.11 0.11 1 1 0.13 m3
/mt M
Electricity consumption(2)
0.48 0.50 0.51 0.48 0.48 0 kWh/mt M
SPAIN SCOTLAND(1)
PORTUGAL(1)
Comments»»
(1)
-- This activity began in 2011 in Portugal and in 2012 in Scotland.
(2)
-- The figures are per tonne of decontaminated soil.
Soil scrubbing (Sines, Portugal)

Disposal/Elimination activities50
Disposal/Elimination activities
A tool that promotes cooperation
and goodwill amongst people in a
community by enabling them to
exchange services and activities,
always using the same unit of ex-
change and value for everyone:
time.
4.2 Disposal/Elimination activities
Key figures: 2010 2011 2012 *
mt of waste handled in Spain
Hazardous & non-hazardous waste and SMW 632,179 504,313 424,644 M
mt of waste handled in Latin America M
Hazardous waste and SMW 746,960 805,554 762,930 M
This chapter refers to the hazar-
dous waste disposal services
provided by HERA. However,
because some of the activities in
these facilities concern the
recovery of resources, and be-
cause this report is organised
according to the type of environ-
mental factor that is recovered,
this chapter only explains and
gives indicators for the impact of
such disposal activities upon
sustainability. The upgrading
activities that are also carried out
in controlled landfills are analy-
sed in the respective chapter of
this report: leachate treatment is
discussed in chapter 4.1.2 From
wastewater to clean water, and
the energy upgrading carried out
at the Group’s landfills in Spain is
explained in chapter 4.1.3 From
emissions to renewable energy.
In Spain
The HERA Group was created
with a view to restoring the
environment and providing
thorough final treatment for
municipal and industrial waste,
thereby avoiding the adverse
environmental impacts caused by
uncontrolled landfills. With this in
mind, the construction and
operation of controlled landfills
have been one of the Group’s
main final disposal activities,
together with the development

51Disposal/Elimination activities
of innovative management practi-
ces and technologies.
To date, the Coll Cardús contro-
lled landfill, the HERA Group’s
first plant built in 1983, has dealt
with more than 14 million tonnes
of non-hazardous industrial and
municipal waste whilst minimi-
sing environmental impact and
recovering as many resources as
possible.
To mitigate the landfill’s environ-
mental impact, the following
steps are taken:
The facility is fitted with four••
diffusers operating 24/7 that
release a substance to capture
odour molecules.
Since 2003 falconry has been••
used to control the seagulls at
the landfill, i.e. falcons, natural
predators, are used to keep
them away.
When the Vallés Occidental WTP
started operating in November
2010 the SMW which had pre-
viously been disposed of in the
landfill were redirected to this
plant to enable the recyclable
elements found in this type of
waste to be recovered. From then
onwards, the waste entering the
Coll Cardús CL – consisting of
bales of the final waste produced
by the WTP and non-hazardous
industrial waste – was used to
create the morphology authori-
sed by the Vacarisses CL closure
and landscaping plan. Work on
the gradual closure of the landfill
continues in conjunction with the
Geomodels joint research centre
(an institute founded by the
Universitat Politécnica de Cata-
lunya, Universitat de Barcelona,
DURSI (Departament de Universi-
tat Recerca i Societat de la
Información), and the IGME
(Instituto Geológico Minero)).
This research will determine the
best way of ensuring stability
during the final closure and
sealing stages of the disposal
basin. In this respect the Group’s
Ecoinnovation Department is
working to minimise the eco-foo-
tprint caused by covering and
closing the CL by employing
local, renewable materials.
Since 2004 the Group has been
operating its controlled landfill in
Murcia – using the same criteria
as at Coll Cardús – which is
authorised to receive non-hazar-
dous, pre-treated municipal
waste that cannot be upgraded.
All this is pursuant to Council
Directive 1999/31/CE dated April
26th governing waste disposal,
which makes it mandatory to
reduce the disposal of bio-degra-
dable waste entering landfills.
In November 2008, work began
on relandscaping the old Isidre
coalmines in Pujalt (Anoia, Barce-
lona) by the controlled disposal
of industrial and household
waste. A total of 14 hectares are
to be restored. This will offset the
negative environmental impact
caused when the topsoil origina-
lly covering the coal seams was
removed, and will make the area
blend in with its surroundings by
recreating the original morpholo-
gy and subsequently developing
farming-based activities.
In June 2007 the Group built a
new plant in Cantabria for the
disposal of residual waste from
the metallurgy and car industries.
This plant features hazardous
waste stabilisation and the
physical, chemical and biological
treatment of industrial effluents.
In Latin America
Another challenge faced by the
Group has been its expansion
into developing countries becau-
se the technology used in Europe
must be tailored to their social
and economic circumstances
whilst still complying with the
environmental specifications of
industrialised countries. In this
period, HERA has focussed on
certain strategic countries,
particularly Brazil.
In November 2011, the Group
carried out a strategic disinves-
tment in Chile because its hazar-
dous waste market was already
very mature. HERA had been
running a controlled landfill in
Chile since 2002 and achieved a
share of 65% in the hazardous
waste market. The indicators of
this country are not included in
this edition of the report.
The Group has been present in
Argentina for more than a de-
cade and has a hazardous waste
treatment and upgrading plant in
Zarate. These facilities have
grown constantly over this period
and now feature an incineration

Disposal/Elimination activities52
furnace, a controlled landfill, and
physical and chemical treatment
of PCB’s tailored to deal with the
different types of hazardous
waste produced, in addition to
the R&D investment being made
in new technologies such as
recycling PVC.
On January 16th 2007 the
Group’s Nuevo Mondoñedo
controlled landfill 35 km from
Bogotá (Colombia) was inaugura-
ted. It handles the SMW from
more than 40 towns in the area,
the equivalent of some 900tm/
day.
The Group has been active in
Brazil since September 2009
when it opened an SMW
treatment plant on a 149-hectare
site in San Francisco do Conde
(Salvador de Baía). During this
period, the Group has been hired
to manage the waste from its
catchment area, including parti-
cularly San Francisco do Conde y
Candeias, in addition, its opera-
tions in the recyclable waste
market have grown to cater for
industrial estates. In its third year
of operations, the plant was
already handling 120,000 mt/yr.
In early 2009, the Group bought
a 50% stake in a local company in
southern Brazil specialised in
hazardous waste management. In
these two years, its facilities have
been brought into line with
HERA’s standards, trebling its
turnover.
Industrial waste treatment complex (Río Negrinho, Brazil)

53Disposal/Elimination activities
Spain 2010 2011 2012 Units *
Electricity generated on-site consumed per mt of
waste treated at CL
0.41 1.09 1.30 kWh/mt M
Bought-in electricity consumed per mt of waste
treated at CL & disposal
1.41 0.69 0.79 kWh/mt M
Water consumed per mt of waste treated at CL &
disposal
- Mains water 0.032 0.010 0.015 m3
/mt M
- Recycled water (permeate) 0.144 0.149 0.132 m3
/mt M
Raw materials consumed:
- Sulphuric acid 7,740 0 0 l M
- Soda 12,814 0 0 l M
- Salt 12 0 0 mt M
- Foam inhibitor 0 0 0 l M
- Slaked lime 260 20 38 mt M
- Quick lime 374 388 186 mt M
- Cement 0 0 0 mt M
- Diesel oil 33,156 34,028 32,461 l M
- Aggregates 231 249 0 mt M
- Gravel 794 328 215 mt M
Number of significant fuel, oil, chemical spills 0 0 1 M
Amount of waste generated by disposal activity:
- Stabilised sludge 6,046 5,220 4,534 mt M
- Evaporator concentrate 0 0 0 mt M
Significant emissions by type and weight
(disposal activity):
- CO 126 143 143 Kg M
- NOX 454 516 516 Kg M
- SO2
333 379 379 Kg M
- SO2
<1.63 <1.63 <1.63 mg/Nm3
M
- NH3
0.15 0.15 0.15 mg/Nm3
M
Main environmental pressures: Disposal/Elimination activities

Sustainability Report 2011 - 2012

Sustainability Report 2011 - 2012

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Ähnlich wie Sustainability Report 2011 - 2012

Ähnlich wie Sustainability Report 2011 - 2012 (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

Sustainability Report 2011 - 2012