UDAIPUR: Hindustan Zinc believes in innovating for a sustainable future and true to its philosophy, the company has won four awards during CII World Environment Day 2021. Hindustan Zinc has adopted several environment friendly practices continuously invest in technology to make their operations more sustainable.
Among 52 companies who participated across India, 15 were recognized as ‘Excellent’ and two units were from Hindustan Zinc. Rajpura Dariba Mine (RDM) and Chanderiya Lead Zinc Smelter (CLZS) of Hindustan Zinc won the ‘Excellent’ award each in the category of ‘Case Study – Recognition for ecological restoration by companies’ for the projects – Development of Biodiversity Park at RDM and Waste Disposal Site Remediation-Restoration of Jarofix Waste Yard at CLZS.
Rajpura Dariba Mine is one of the oldest underground lead-zinc mines that has adopted internationally recognised energy management standard ISO 50001 with continuous focus on reducing overall energy consumption, improving energy and efficiency which in the long run help mitigate climate change. Under Biodiversity Park project, around 10ha of land around Rajpura Dariba Complex has been developed where around 50,000 plants of 42 different species were planted to attract local and migratory birds which come to nearby Irrigation pond.
Chanderiya Lead-Zinc Smelter is one of the largest single location integrated zinc smelting complexes in the world where they have a strong focus on Waste Management and gainful utilization of waste in the plant. Chanderiya team in collaboration with TERI (The Energy and research Institute) has used mycorrhiza technology for development of Green area on its Existing Jarofix Waste dump. The technology is a symbiotic association between a plant and a fungus, where the plant provides food for the fungus and the fungus draws nutrients from the soil and add to improvement of cultivation processes, rejuvenation of fertile soils and reclamation of wasteland into productive land in a sustainable manner.
From over 2000 participants, 52 were selected for the final round as winners of ‘Online Quiz Competition’ where Shama Jain and Tejas Bagrecha from HSE department of Hindustan Zinc were among the declared winners. Shama has been associated with the organization for over 12 years and has been responsible for handling Sustainability Reporting and Communication whereas Tejas has been actively involved in various environment related projects of the organization.
Amidst this pandemic, Hindustan Zinc has adhered to the various mandated norms and regulations. The company has also introduced, as a reaction to the pandemic, various measures to change the way of working to ensure a safer working environment for the employees. The Guidelines were drawn centrally applicable for all operations of the company, with responsibilities defined for business continuity and elimination of risk to the workforce. On the plant side, Hindustan Zinc has taken all safety precautions by implementing government standards and protocols.
Hindustan Zinc is a COP 26 Business Leader and is working towards achieving Science-Based Targets (SBT’s) to curb carbon footprint. The company has been ranked 1st in Asia Pacific & 7th globally by Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2020 in metals & mining sector. It is also a member of the FTSE4Good Index and is among the only four companies in India to be part of the coveted ‘A’ list by CDP for climate change.
