Zero Waste : Corporate Interventions

Asian Paints
Asian Paints approaches the environment issue from the perspective of waste minimisation and conservation of resources. Thus, the continued attempt is to reuse, recycle and eliminate waste, which results in less and less waste being generated. Accordingly material losses in manufacturing have been reduced substantially over the last few years. Further, the company's four paint plants and the two chemical plants in India have the ISO 14001 certification for environment management standards.
In 2002-03, Asian Paints instituted its own safety standards across all plants in India, which is based on the standards prescribed by the British Safety Council (BSC). This year, the four paint plants in India merited a Five-Star rating by the BSC. More significantly, three of our plants - Bhandup, Ankleshwar and Patancheru - were awarded the BSC's much sought after "Sword of Honour", which is considered as the pinnacle of achievement in safety across the world. The Sword of Honour is given to only 40 plants in the world each year and is designed to reward the best practices in this field. To have three of the company' s paint plants ranked among the top 40 in the first year of audit emphasises our steadfast commitment to safety.

Further due to various initiatives undertaken by the company at all its manufacturing facilities, Asian Paints was the recipient of the prestigious 'Golden Peacock National Quality award' for 2003. This is the most coveted quality award in the country.All our paint plants have achieved 'zero industrial discharge' capability. This has been achieved by the installation of upgraded effluent treatment facilities and installation of reverse osmosis plants in conjunction with appropriate recycling & reuse schemes. Our emulsion manufacturing facility has also achieved 'zero waste' status.

We have adapted the principles of "green productivity". Some of our innovative schemes, which enhance green productivity are

• Colour World dealer tinting system - allows for greater choice at the customer end thus reducing the number of shades produced in the factories. This has resulted in larger batch sizes and lesser number of changeovers leading to effluent reduction.
• Upgradation of material handling and storage facilities - such as the new bulk storage facility for monomers to reduce material losses and eliminate effluent generation arising out of barrel cleaning.
• Upgradation of process technology- has resulted in increased yield and therefore lesser pollution. For instance, the improved filtration process has resulted in higher filtration rates and lower losses.
• Use of natural gas as fuel - instead of furnace oil or diesel has not only improved fuel efficiency but also reduced sulphur dioxide emissions by 77%.
• Solvent recovery plants - set up with an investment of Rs.1.8 million, these plants have resulted in almost zero solvent disposal and have already yielded a direct benefit of Rs.10.4 million.
• Improved incinerating systems - have resulted in over 72 % reduction in waste after incineration. The remaining waste is also being re-used. For instance, we have eliminated the need for disposal of incinerator ash by manufacturing bricks. These bricks are used for internal construction purposes.
• Reverse osmosis - helps us re-use treated effluents in our cooling towers. This has reduced fresh water consumption by 50 kilolitres per day.
• Rainwater harvesting - scheme developed by us has become the benchmark for industries. Rainwater harvesting has resulted in around 14.5 million litres being harvested in 2003-04 and used at our plants.

As a result of implementing various water recycling, reuse and conservation measures in our plants, our average water consumption has reduced by 45 % inspite of production volumes of water based products doubling in the last five years. Asian Paints is committed to operate its plants and facilities in a manner to ensure continual improvement towards achieving 'CLEAN ENVIRONMENT'.
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Atul : Zero Discharge Concept

Zero discharge concepts has been adopted at Atul based on the principle of recycle, reuse and reduce. Our concentrated efforts under this project yielded massive reduction in overall water consumption apart from awareness amongst all how to conserve resources effectively.
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Caterpillar
CIPL's commitment to environment has been reinforce with being awarded the ISO 14001 Certification in July 2000. The Company adopts eco friendly production activities, maintaining ecological balance both inside and outside the organisation. The major initiatives include:

• Planting 20,000 trees of various varieties in the Company premises covering 30 acres of land.
• Zero Discharge of effluents.
• Conducting Awareness Programmes on ban of use of plastics.
• Emphasing the need for use of materials that can be recycled. Spreading this concept of nearby villages.

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Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd

1. A) We have remade a PMC nala flowing from our premises so that proper flow is maintained & all water drains leading to nala, except rainwater is stopped.
B) All effluent streams are connected to ETP plant, where treated water meets stringent norms of recycled water so that water is used for gardening activity. Today, we are zero discharge company.
C) Closed loop system introduced to all water consumption areas so that recycled water is reused again & again. This has reduced our water consumption from 92000 Kiloliters to 10000 Kiloliters per month.

2) By adopting EMS systems, we have achieved substantial reduction in natural recourses such as water, power, oils & wood during last three years.

3) We have constructed a scrap yard where a facility for segregation of all waste materials, measurement of wastes & proper disposal of each category of waste for recycling to authorized recyclers is ensured.

4) We have eliminated hazardous processes such as electroplating; phosphatizing etc. thus, helping us curtail the use of hazardous chemicals.

Our efforts have made us successful in creating awareness regarding the environment in all our employees & are also continuously training them for awareness regarding environmental matters. The result is that a Kirloskar employee is highly aware about environment care and is a regular participant in environment protection exercises.

We will continue to take care of the environment and ensure that our efforts help others in living healthily.