2025 Valero Report on Guiding Principles - Flipbook - Page 35
Introduction
Safety
Environment
Community
People
Governance
Appendix
Waste Management
Valero remains focused on reducing the generation of
wastes across air, water and solid streams. Reducing at
the source and reusing, recycling and repurposing of
materials are key components of our waste reduction
program.
In 2023, Valero implemented a customized Waste
Navigator database across the U.S. re昀椀ning 昀氀eet. The
database tracks waste from generation to ultimate
disposition, driving standardized waste management
practices and systemic improvements in waste
reduction, reuse and recycling. In addition, the
database allows closer oversight of disposal vendors.
Hazardous Waste – In 2024, more than 39 million
pounds of catalyst were recycled to recover valuable
metals. Valero’s hazardous waste management
program includes regular waste reviews, risk
assessments, waste stream prioritization and formal
personnel training programs. Every operating site
follows speci昀椀c expectations on the handling and
recycling of hazardous wastes as speci昀椀ed in CTEMS.
Spill Prevention – Valero is focused on reducing spills
across our operations to protect our people and the
environment, always with the goal of zero spills. Our
commitment to reducing environmental scorecard
incidents is a top priority and is strengthened by the
inclusion of this metric in the all-employee bonus.
The environmental scorecard incidents metric is
weighted to the intensity of incidents, with greater
impact for more signi昀椀cant events, including the
severity of spills.
95%
of all re昀椀nery hazardous and exempted
waste was recycled in 2024.
Reducing, Reusing, Recycling and Repurposing
For Valero, being the most ef昀椀cient and reliable operator in a highly competitive industry means being a better
environmental performer. We look for ways to reduce emissions and waste, reusing energy and byproducts, recycling
materials and repurposing wastes.
Flare-Gas Recovery Systems Resulted in More Than
96% Flaring-Free Operations in 2024 – Nearly 80% of
Valero’s large process 昀氀ares are equipped with 昀氀aregas recovery systems. These systems reduce 昀氀aring
and air pollution, and recover fuel gases, which are
used to 昀椀re heaters and boilers, reducing natural gas
consumption.
Sulfur Removal – Sulfur recovered in re昀椀ning processes
is used for a variety of bene昀椀cial purposes, including
crop fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, detergents and
cosmetics. Sulfuric acid is also critical for the extraction
of nickel, cobalt and rare earth minerals from their ores.
Marine Vapor Recovery Units – At certain re昀椀neries,
vapors generated when loading vessels with gasoline
and other light products are captured and routed back
to the re昀椀nery for reprocessing.
Wastewater Management – Process water and
stormwater are managed at our wastewater treatment
plants. We use bacteria to digest oil and treat
wastewater streams to clean the water before returning
it to the ecosystem.
Energy Ef昀椀ciency Initiatives – We prioritize
improvements in process monitoring and control
systems to reduce energy consumption, which in turn
reduces costs and emissions.
Repurposing of Material Recovered from Tank
Cleaning – Recovered material is often reprocessed
in our re昀椀neries and upgraded to fuels and other
products or used as fuel at third-party facilities,
avoiding land昀椀ll waste.
Fuel from Oil Waste – Our high-conversion re昀椀neries
are capable of upgrading oil waste into high-value fuel
and products.
Valero Report on Guiding Principles •
35
