As a business house, we are totally committed to sustainable development. Hence, building eco-efficiency in all of our operations and guarding natural resources come to us naturally. Your company has a well-drawn out
environmental management strategy in place. Environment concerns are textured into all manufacturing processes and business decisions. We subscribe to the United Nations Global Compact.

At all of our company’s plants at Nagda, Jawad and Malanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Raipur in Chattisgarh, Bhiwani in Haryana, Kharia Khangar and Shambhupura in Rajasthan, Harihar and Malkhed in Karnataka,
Kharach in Gujarat, Raigad (Salav) and Hotgi in Maharashtra, Bhatinda in Punjab and Reddipalayam in Tamil Nadu, we adopt clean technologies and processes that offer both economic progress and sustainable environment.
Our plants, with the exception of Bhiwani Textiles Mills, are ISO 14001 Environment Management Systems Certified (EMA) and adhere to OHSAS 18001 standards.

To ensure your company’s plants on-going conformity to environment management systems, auditing is an inbuilt process. So, we track our performance against detailed environmental metrics, engaging professional
environmental audit consultants. KPMG Peat Marwick, Det Norske Veritas, the state pollution control board’s certified auditors and environmental systems auditors conduct an in-depth environmental audit on our plants. Their audit reports reconfirm the fact that we are environment sensitive.

Many accolades have been conferred on your company for its singular contribution to environment conservation.

A selective list is given below:

• Your company’s staple fibre division at Nagda has been the recipient of :
  • The Stockholm Industry Water Award
  • The CII Leadership in Excellence Award for Safety, Health and Environment
  • The Greentech Gold Award for Outstanding Achievements in Safety Management
• Your company’s pulp division at Harihar:
  • Was named one of the top performers with a three-leaf rating in the Green Rating Award by the Centre for Science and Environment.
  • Received a special award for the best performance in fibre sourcing towards raw material self-sufficiency through the promotion of farm and social forestry.
  • Bagged the Greentech Environment Excellence Gold Award for Outstanding Achievement in environment management.
  • Was also the recipient of the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award bestowed upon it by the World Environment Foundation.
• Your company’s cement division’s accolades:
  • The Greentech Environment Excellence Gold Award
  • Chattisgarh State’s “Sant Gahira Guru Parayavaran Puraskar” for environment management.

It would interest you to know that the viscose staple fibre produced by your company is OEKO-TEX-100 certified validating that the fibre is next to nature. It is certified by the British Textile Techno Group, Manchester, U.K., as totally devoid of any harmful substance.

Your company has state-of-the-art automated industrial effluent treatment plants across its manufacturing units. The treated effluent, including treated sewage generated by the plants, is recycled for use in gardening and for irrigation. New ways to ensure energy conservation and productively use waste generated have been devised in the recent past. For instance, the incorporation of energy efficient devices and drives for fans, pumps, air compressors, vacuum filters and use of energy efficient motors and pumps have significantly lowered energy consumption and helped conserve natural resources, such as coal.

The installation of the new blow tank with a modified heat recovery system has considerably improved the process efficiency and environment.

Hydraulic tightening systems for reject viscose filter presses and continuous spinning tanks have helped reduce cleaning losses.

The fly-ash generated in the manufacturing process is utilised to make bricks which are used in the new constructions at the Birla Cellulosic plant.

Energy conservation and recycling waste productively continue to be a priority at your company’s cement plants as well. A few examples are given below:

• Desilting of the mines water generated from strata seepage and re-cycling it for industrial cooling, spraying in the mines and plant for dust suppression.
• Fine iron particles generated in the slag grinding process are segregated from slag, and sold as scrap.
• Setting up of static grate cooler, which has led to energy saving of about 21 KCAL for every kilo of clinker.
• To prevent dust particles from being emitted in the environment, highly efficient pollution control equipment like, the reverse airbag house, the pulse jetbag house and electrostatic precipitators (ESP) have been
  installed at different sections of some of our plants. In other plants, the ESP control systems have been replaced with the latest microprocessor control systems in the cement mills. The dust collected is then
  fully recycled into the system.
• The air-deck blasting technique enabled energy conservation in the mines.
• A six-stage pre-heater cyclone ensures optimal heat utilisation and exchange heat during the calcinations process.

Your company is increasingly using alternate fuels, such as pet coke which is a by-product of oil refineries and low grade lime stones, to save on natural resources.

Your company’s sponge iron plant at Salav is based on the latest technology with in-built pollution environmental conservation systems. It barely generates liquid effluents as the bulk of the water goes into a re-circulation mechanism. The supa flow system ensures the separation of solids from the effluents. As natural gas is the prime source of energy and is free from sulphur, the few gases that are released from the stacks are non-polluting. In addition, dry bag filters and wet scrubbers ensure a dust free environment.

Apart from these measures, educating and sensitising our employees, contractors and customers on the importance of sustainable development is a process in continuum.

As our country is often faced with drought and severe water shortage, at many of the places where our plants are located, we have begun unique rainwater harvesting projects. These form not only a part of our environment
management systems, but also evolve out of our commitment to qualitatively better the lives of the communities in proximity to our plants.

Our board and all of our colleagues across our plants are fully committed to sustainable development. We are all nature lovers. The green cover in and around our plants, with tens of thousands of trees swaying, is a reflection
of our passionate respect for the environment.