SAINT_GOBAIN_REGISTRATION_DOCUMENT_2017

4

An efficient and responsible Group Operational excellence policies

plasterboard from the sites were recovered and recycled in this way throughout the world, representing the equivalent of the annual output of two medium-sized factories. The challenge for the Activity is to increase the quantity of site waste that is recovered whilst ensuring effective sorting to obtain recyclable material of suitable quality to replace the virgin material with a substantial benefit in terms of biodiversity. The Flat Glass Activity has optimized its logistics to promote the recovery of cullet (2) across the entire value chain where the Group is present and especially between glass processing sites (manufacturing windshields or windows, for example) and glass furnaces. In addition to this, systems for recovering windshields or windows are being promoted in the countries where glass furnaces are capable of melting the post-consumer cullet collected. Other Group products can already tolerate the replacement of virgin raw materials with recycled materials from other consumption circuits: glass wool and cast iron pipe. Insulation Sector sites already include cullet in their composition, and this has been the case for many years. In 2017, external cullet accounted for 41% of the total materials used in the furnaces, with a total of almost 600,000 tons collected and used throughout the world. Similarly, the Pipe Activity uses a “second fusion” process which is carried out by fusing scrap and recovery cast iron. The annual quantities depend on their availability on the market. A decentralized organizational structure that b) is particularly conducive to the transition to the circular economy The Group’s decentralized organizational structure based on General Delegations enables it to seize local partnership opportunities. In France, Saint-Gobain is strongly involved in the AFEP work group on the circular economy. The Group has also contributed to the work groups of “les assises de l’économie circulaire”. Still in France, Saint-Gobain has joined for gypsum and glass the “Commitment to Green Growth” programs set up by the authorities via the professional associations that it is a member of. In April 2016, Placoplatre signed the commitment for green growth relating to the recycling of plaster waste. This innovative approach is part of a process of collaboration between the public authorities, the "Syndicat National des Industries du Plâtre" and reference players from the plaster sector. With nearly 50,000 tons of plaster collected and recycled yearly by Placorecycling ® , the recycled internal and external plaster scrap content of Placo plasterboard is now close to 10% on average. The Commitment to Green Growth for flat glass signed by the trade associations in 2017 could lead to the collection and sorting of 80,000 tons of cullet per year in 2025 for the whole of the subsidiary in France.

These objectives are conveyed by means of short- and medium-term objectives which concern the five main environmental challenges identified by the Group: resources; energy, atmospheric emissions and climate; water; biodiversity and the use of soil; environmental accidents and nuisances. The methodology of the WCM Environment pillar makes it possible to identify environmental aspects and differences and to reduce and control them (see Chapter 4, Section 2.1). towards the circular economy Faced with a decline in raw materials, the sustainable management of resources makes it possible to ensure the competitiveness and continuity of the Group’s activities by securing supplies and anticipating changes in legislation and the depletion of natural resources. The treatment and recovery of waste is also a major challenge for Saint-Gobain (see Chapter 4, Section 2.3, diagram of environmental impacts of the Group’s activities on the value chain). Developed in 2015, the Sustainable Management of Resources policy (1) aims to reduce the impact of the use of resources and their responsible management to favor the transition to a circular economy. Through cross-business actions and synergies between industry and distribution, Saint-Gobain undertakes to provide innovating solutions for the sustainable management of resources during the lifecycle of its products, throughout the entire value chain. The short- and medium-term objectives were defined for the application of this policy, with a view to the implementation thereof by all General Delegations, Activities and Group functions, observing local regulations. In particular, each Activity and each General Delegation have to draw up a roadmap by the end of 2019 to develop the circular economy with three priorities: have a maximum recycled content in its products; „ generate a minimum amount of production waste; „ recover the waste originating from these processes either „ internally or externally. Sustainable management 2.3.1 of resources: transitioning Some of the Group’s products are indefinitely suitable for closed-loop recycling within their industrial process, as is the case for flat glass and plasterboard. Working with the General Delegations of the countries where it is present, the Gypsum Activity is progressively implementing services for the recovery of plasterboard offcuts. These services currently exist in a quarter of the countries where the Activity is present. These offcuts are reprocessed and folded back into the industrial process in place of natural gypsum. Today, 14 countries throughout the world use plaster waste from the sites in the manufacture of their plasterboard. More than 265,000 tons of waste Industrial processes promoting the a) incorporation of recycled materials

Saint-Gobain’s Sustainable Management of Resources policy is available on request from the Group’s EHS Department. (1) Broken glass coming from manufacturing waste or from the selective collection of waste and recycled content (2)

74 SAINT-GOBAIN - REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2017