ATLANTA/INDIA: Birla Carbon, as part of the Aditya Birla Group, signed the WASH pledge in 2015 and has since been growing in its commitment year on year. Birla Carbon has a rating of 1.93 out of 2 in early 2018 compared to its score of 1.77 in 2015 after it signed the pledge.
WASH which stands for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene is a pledge taken by many organizations to provide access to safe drinking water to its employees and communities. The pledge is a World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) designed scoring system based on Self-Assessment Questionnaires with a maximum score of 2.0.
The pledge supports the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal – 6, ‘Ensure access to water and sanitation for all’.
Joe Gaynor, Chief Legal, Risk and Sustainability Officer, Birla Carbon shares, “We, at Birla Carbon, are committed to providing the basic needs of safe water, sanitation and hygiene not only to all of our employees, but also to the communities in which they live. Additionally, we are focused on water conservation so that we minimize the impact of our operations on the local environment and many of our plants have zero water discharge. While we are proud of our achievements to date, we will continue to look for new opportunities to improve access to this most basic resource – water.” He further adds, “On the occasion of ‘World Water Day’, we continue to endeavor that this initiative spread, just like the positive impact it has created in our people’s lives.”
Some achievements under the WASH pledge;
- All plants found creative ways of contributing to the WASH initiative whether inside the plant or in the communities
- Over 140 awareness campaigns and training sessions held for employees and communities
- We are actively measuring our use of water at our plants
- Water recycling and reuse programs have been established in all of our plants
