Thursday, August 10 2006 11:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: While striving to be the pre-eminent player in every sector it ventures in, Reliance Industries has come out with a report that suggests that corporate social responsibility, whether through efficient energy use or waste recycling, is set to be a growth mantra.

The recently released saga of 'Corporate Sustainability Report', aptly titled 'Life', gives glimpses of not only how the company has been able to substantially reduce its input cost through use of better technologies but also how astute handling of waste is creating wealth in many ways.

Benchmarking its energy audit to the global standards using the Solomon and Shell Energy Index, the report states the company has reaped benefits in terms of overall reduction in consumption of energy fuel, power and resources at its three petroleum and petrochemical units at Patalganga in Maharashtra and Hazira and Jamnagar in Gujarat.

"Some of these energy conservation mechanisms were planned keeping in mind the global flexibility mechanism the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)," the report states.

The CDM under the UN monitored system allows industries to trade the credits they earn for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global warming to developed countries and help them to write off some of their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.

While this holds possibilities of earning anywhere from $1 to $5 per tonne and sometimes more for the greenhouse gas emission reduced, it has, in the case of Reliance, also meant more efficient operation and ensuring a better environment for the employees and communities around the petroleum and petrochemicals complexes.

"We strive to create wealth from waste. All our sites are equipped with efficient waste recovery units. We thus maximise our throughput while negating the environmental impact of the waste," the report states.

From processing waste fibre into a fibrous and fluffy mass to make stuffing for pillows and mattresses, the report of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) should act as a guide to the polluting industries in the country on how to manage their effluents and other waste by-products to ensure the environment resources are not permanently destroyed.

Unlike the story of the Yamuna river, which is dying due to industrial and other pollution, the RIL report says that only after monitoring by competent authorities is all its effluent discharged into the river or sea at designated places. Even the ambient air monitoring is done on a daily basis.

The incinerator ash at the Patalganga plant is reprocessed to recover cobalt and manganese to prevent heavy metal pollution and reduce costs. The plant annually processes 100-150 tonnes of ash to recover and reuse as cobalt acetate catalysts.

The 80-100 tonne per day biological sludge generated from the effluent plants at Patalganga is de-watered in a belt filter press system to a cake of about 20 percent solid and used for making vermicompost manure. Further efforts are on to anaerobically digest the bio-sludge to generate biogas for power generation.

Several other waste management programmes are under implementation at the three complexes.

These include effort to reduce calcium fluoride sludge at Hazira, elimination of chemical fertiliser use through use of vermicast fertiliser from horticulture waste, regular segregation and recycling programme in collaboration with the Surat civic authorities, production of biogas from canteen waste, sale of waste silica gel to silicate manufacturers, spent alumina to refractory units and spent nickel-cadmium batteries to suppliers.

The company is also doing segregation of hazardous and non-hazardous waste at the source of generation for better management. Similarly, management of oil and chemical spills is being given major focus.

The effort to minimise environment impact has seen RIL set up green belts, with the Hazira complex boasting of 10,000 trees and over 1,000 shrubs and ornamental plants.

Through use of drip irrigation the once arid land around the Jamnagar refinery site now has a forest cover. The Dhirubhai Ambani Lakhi Bagh at Jamnagar now houses one of the region's largest mango plantation and other non-native fruit trees, medicinal and aromatic plants.

The RIL report describes these green belts as a pool of life nurturing the growth of greenery in the arid and water scarce region of Gujarat.