Sustainable Development

As an international company, Imerys has adopted the principles of Sustainable Development in order to reach goals related to responsible social behavior, health and safety, environmental responsibility and economic compliance. These principles include:

	Manage the environment responsibly
	Respect local communities
	Use our mining reserves as economically and efficiently as possible
	Forge special relationships with our customers and suppliers
	Develop high quality and environment-friendly products and technologies
	Guarantee the health and safety of our employees in the workplace
	Empower our employees, acknowledge the quality of their actions, motivate them and offer them career prospects
	Communicate regularly and openly with our shareholders

The operating entities of Imerys apply these principles as part of their individual strategicplansand decision-making processes. Extensive training programs and considerable investment support this commitment to continual social and environmental performance improvement in quantifiable terms.

Imerys North American products are naturally-occurring minerals mined from sites that have been in operation over 40 years. As a long-standing member of these communities, we operate the facilities in an environmentally responsible manner, sensitive to the needs of our neighbors. Our facilities have won national awards for their on-going remediation efforts, returning our mines to a topographically natural state.

Imerys annually holds a Sustainable Development Challenge, an internal competition rewarding employees and groups within the company for innovative approaches to supporting their communities, decreasing energy or water consumption, site remediation, recycling and developing "green" products, including products made from recycled materials.