AHMEDABAD: Continuing its efforts to reduce plastic usage, FMCG major Adani Wilmar organized a plogging activity in Ahmedabad along with its 400 employees.
The company’s top management and employees collected 152 kilos of plastic waste in just one hour the day the activity, which is also aimed at creating awareness about the environmental hazards of non-recyclable plastic, was launched.
The country’s largest edible oil company will undertake plogging for 21 days.
For Adani Wilmar, which has entered its 20th year with a green pledge and campaign around ‘Reuse or Refuse Plastics’, the plastic plogging is just one of the series of initiatives dedicated to safeguard the environment. The initiatives launched comprise a multi-pronged approach to reduce the consumption of plastic and maximizing plastic recycling.
Angshu Mallick, Deputy CEO, Adani Wilmar, said that Adani Wilmar has signed agreements with multiple agencies for plastic waste collection from across the nation.
“These agreements are a part of our action plan to comply with Plastic Waste Management Rules under the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR). We have lifted nearly 28 lakh kilos of plastic from across the country since April, and are aiming to touch 68 lakh kilos by March. In the first year, our goal is to collect 30% of the total plastic waste generated by us, and to reach 100% in the third year,” Mallick said.
Incidentally, Adani Wilmar is the first edible oil company to use recyclable material in packaging. The recyclable packaging material is being used in 1-litre pouches of the flagship Fortune brand, and will be expanded to other sub-brands through a gradual overhaul of its packaging to make it entirely recyclable.
Apart from the crackdown on plastic, Adani Wilmar has also taken a series of measures aimed at reducing its carbon footprint.
Adani Wilmar has installed Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) systems in Effluent Treatment Plants which allows more efficient use of water by enabling the reuse of treated water.
Adani Wilmar also meets nearly 15% of its power requirement through renewable sources.
“Our Mundra unit consumes 15 MW power, of which 2 MW is met through solar energy. Keeping in mind the serious threat posed by climate change, we are in the process of increasing our solar power capacity to further reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” Mallick informed further.
Recently, Adani Wilmar has also launched a project to convert food waste generated at its canteen to produce compost. As a part of this initiative, food waste is utilized as feed to the compost machine to convert it into highly rich manure.
“Not only is this environment-friendly and helps in reducing pollution, but it also helps in reducing the cost of transportation and disposal of waste. We aim to implement this initiative in all facilities of Adani Wilmar,” Mallick added.
