Indian conglomerate company ITC Limited, headquartered in Kolkata, on 30 reaffirmed its unwavering commitment towards this year’s Swachh Bharat Diwas theme of ‘Garbage Free India’ by strengthening its sustainable circular economy initiatives.
Speaking about its flagship initiatives, the firm that ‘Wellbeing out of Waste’ programme has covered 2.2 crore citizens in over 55 lakh households, 57 lakh school children and around 2,100 corporates. Commonly referred to as WOW programme, the initiative promotes awareness, segregation, collection and management as well as reuse or recycling of solid waste.
The firm said the programme helped collect 64,000 MT of dry waste from 1,270 wards in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, major towns of Telangana and several districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Apart from these, the firm said ITC WOW promoted sustainable livelihood for waste collectors by facilitating an effective collection system in collaboration with urban local bodies, by encouraging behavioral change.
Citing that the firm to be solid waste recycling positive for 16 consecutive years and accomplishing the feat of being plastic neutral for two consecutive years, ITC has launched a nationwide programme entailing mobilisation of ITC employees across its factory, hotels and office to create and enhance awareness regarding best waste management practices.
Solid Waste Management (SWM) programme:
Under this programme, ITC collaborates with Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats and has SWM models for towns, villages and temples to manage both wet and dry waste and minimise waste to landfill. It said under ITC Green Temple Initiative has been expanded to cover 950 places of worship to process waste from temples to provide biogas and compost.
Sustainability 2.0 agenda:
The firm aims to envisages 100% of packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable or bio-degradable by 2028. The firm says it achieved and went beyond plastic neutrality in 2021-22. ITC continued to remain plastic neutral in 2022-23, having sustainably managed more than 60,000 tons of plastic waste across 36 states and Union Territories in India.
Post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) use:
Under the Post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) use initiative, the firm claimed to have launched eco-friendly lifestyle products that include laptop sleeves, tote bags and stationery pouches, hand-produced from upcycled YiPPee! snack wrappers.
Among other things, ITC claimed that its hotels reduced the use of single-use plastics from around 150 touch points across its operations, eliminating around 2.5 lakh kg of plastic per year.
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Updated: 30 Sep 2023, 11:08 PM IST