In Norway, the Sola refinery was closing and looking for ways to dispose of potentially valuable equipment while in the Dominican Republic, a Shell refinery needed to increase its gas storage capacity. The solution was to ship two giant storage tanks 8,000 km across the Atlantic Ocean. In the decommissioning of the Norwegian refinery, 99% of its components were either reused or recycled.

Shell also tries to turn waste into a useful product. The greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is the gas used to make soft drinks "fizzy". Shell’s ethylene glycol plant in Singapore has reduced its emissions of carbon dioxide by 25,000 tonnes a year. It now liquifies the gas and sells it for use by soft drinks manufacturers. In Holland, 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year are sent for reuse by a company producing whiteners for the paper industry.

In addition to minimising wastes for the future, Shell recognises its obligation to clean up old sites which were unintentionally contaminated and to ensure that communities do not suffer harm.