Ecological sustainability is not just an issue for today and tomorrow. As a manufacturing company, WACKER continuously optimizes each process sustainably in order to conserve resources and minimize waste. Further goals are to generate energy as efficiently as possible and clean up legacy chemicals in an environmentally compatible way. This is why we have been adherents of the chemical industry's Responsible Care^® program from the outset. The perpetual search for ways to improve production facilities and processes, along with our by-product recycling and intelligent production loops, have steadily reduced WACKER's emissions to air, water and soil in recent years. Our integrated management system (IMS) infuses the sustainability ethos into all operating processes and serves as a tool for evaluating and monitoring “environmental quality” within the company. Moreover, since 2004, our company’s own environmental performance assessment tool (EPAT) has enabled us to compare “apples with oranges” ” throughout the Group and substantially sway investment decisions.