Environmental Performance

In 2011-12, the two Paper & Paperboard mills, Bhadrachalam and Tribeni accounted for 98% of total wastewater discharged outside the Unit premises in ITC. The Kovai wastepaper based Paperboards Unit recycled/reused the entire treated effluents within the Unit premises for irrigation purposes this year. The treated effluent quality is far better than the stipulated standards, as depicted below:

These three Units are already well within norms (100 KL/tonne) of specific treated effluent discharge, as defined by Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection (CREP), a voluntary charter by the Ministry of Environment & Forests and Central Pollution Control Board.

The National Productivity Council’s (NPC) report on ‘Proposed Standard for Pulp and Paper Industries in India’ recommends a benchmark standard of 50 KL/tonne for Integrated Pulp and Paper industry, which is applicable for our Bhadrachalam Unit. The current level of 45 KL/tonne at Bhadrachalam is again better than the above proposed benchmark.

Similarly, the above report suggests a benchmark standard of 15m3/tonne for wastepaper based pulp and paper mills. Kovai Unit, which is included in this category, did not discharge any treated effluent outside its premises, this year.

* Average as per Comprehensive Industry Document for Large Scale Paper Mills, study conducted by Central Pulp and Paper Research Institute, 2007

# CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries), Sustainability Report 2011

** World Bank Guideline for New Paper Mills (2007)