Responsible Sourcing of Wood Fibre
Wood is a major source of fibre for the paper and paperboards industry. Availability of wood remains a critical challenge and is a serious sustainability concern, especially in a country with limited natural resources and acute income inequities.
Close to 50% of the total fibre requirements of ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division is met by the Bhadrachalam factory's plantation operations, another 23% comes from recycled fibre, processed at Kovai and Bhadrachalam and the balance is purchased pulp used at Bhadrachalam and Tribeni Units. 99.42% of fibre manufactured in Bhadrachalam is from wood grown under the social and farm forestry initiatives and the balance (0.58%) is sourced through Government and Forest Department wood auctions. Fibre for operations at the Kovai Unit is totally sourced from recycled waste. Efforts continue to enhance the quantity of fibre certified to FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) requirements. This is in line with the commitments made by the Company as part of the WWF GFTN membership. In addition, internal R&D has produced high yielding, site specific, disease resistant eucalyptus and subabul clones on the back of extensive knowledge of plantation management practices. ITC distributed 66.59 million high quality saplings to farmers and planted 13,333 hectares during the year.
Apart from the obvious benefits of increasing the green cover, this initiative also directly contributes to in-situ moisture conservation, ground water recharge and significant reduction in topsoil losses due to wind and water erosion. As a result of the leaf litter from multi species plantations and the promotion of leguminous intercrops, depleted soils are constantly enriched.
ITC does not buy wood-based raw materials from unidentified sources. The Bhadrachalam and Kovai factories which are the only Units in ITC with pulping facilities, ensure traceability of all the fibre used in the manufacturing process and are certified to FSC Chain-of-Custody Standards. |
Total CO2 emissions from ITC’s operations (manufacturing & freight) amounted to 1709 Kilotonnes in 2009-10 (1,572 Kilotonnes in 2008-09). Higher CO2 emissions were on account of significant growth in most businesses and increased pulp production which substitutes imported pulp. The new 6MW wind energy plant and the 90 TPH bio-mass residue fired boiler have contributed to a reduction in CO2 emissions for only part of the year and the impact of these initiatives is expected to be much larger during the course of 2010-11.
ITC’s farm and social forestry initiatives added 13,333 hectares of plantations during 2009-10. Total plantations, as on March 31, 2010 covered over 1,00,000 hectares. The social & farm forestry initiatives have not only contributed to a sustainable source of raw material for the Paperboards business, but also helped sequester 4785 KT of CO2, thus consolidating ITC’s status as a ‘Carbon Positive Company’ for the fifth year in a row. The forestry programme has also created over 46 million person days of employment for marginal farmers and tribals.