Post acquisition of the Kovai paperboards unit on March 19, 2004, a massive training programme for all employees, including service providers’ workmen, was launched to raise quality, environment, occupational health and safety levels to ITC standards. The unit invested 2,260 mandays in training managers, workmen and service providers. Thanks to focused efforts at all levels, the unit has achieved ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & OHSAS 18001 certifications within a year. All the managers in the unit were trained in EHS Risk Management, with the help of National Safety Council, to identify hazards and implement risk reduction plans.

Water: At the time of acquisition, the Kovai unit used 30 KL of water per tonne of board. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board requires all effluents from the mill to be discharged on Company-owned land at a maximum of 35 KL/acre. This limited the total production capacity of the unit. Petax filters were installed, at substantial investments, to clean and recycle the processed water, thereby drastically reducing the water usage to a mere 11 KL per tonne of board. Studies were conducted to establish the significant potential for rainwater harvesting and the unit is gearing up to create a potential of 2,57,257 KL per annum of rainwater harvesting before the 2006 monsoon. Rainwater thus collected should help meet nearly 25% of the total water requirement. Further efforts to reduce consumption and improve recycling of water are underway.

Energy: Various energy saving activities have been explored and implemented due to which 7 MwH power is already being saved every day.

Safety: During the last 7 months of 2004-05, the unit did not have a single lost time accident.