Water, is the lifeline for every living being on this earth, and is the most important shared resource on the planet. Water is a key resource for the economic and social development and is vital to maintain health, grow food, generate energy, manage the environment, and create jobs. At Grasim Industries Ltd., the three R (Reduce, Recycle and Reuse) principles have been effectively applied for protecting and conserving water, which has resulted in significant reduction in fresh water intake of its fiber production units.
Excellence in water management practices are integral to Grasim’s commitment towards water stewardship. These included innovations for improving the efficiency of processes to reduce consumption and multiple times reuse of water. For this, Grasim has adopted state of the art novel technologies such as membrane processes, which could clean up and recycle the wastewater.
Mr Dilip Gaur, Managing Director, Grasim Industries Limited informed “Nagda plant is leading the way with the VSF business being the lowest water consumer globally.” Mr Gaur added, “The plant also meets water needs of the entire city, railway and irrigation needs of the farmers thru the 30 billion litres storage capacity built by Grasim”.
Mr K Suresh, Unit Head, SFD Nagda said, “Grasim Nagda plant makes large range of dope-dyed fibers which are dyed at the time of manufacturing of fiber itself. This technology consumes 50% less chemicals and does not require any additional water for coloring, reducing the water requirement in the post fiber stage for coloring to zero.” He added, “The newly developed fibre Livaeco by Birla Cellulose uses 40% less water compared to the European Best Available Technology limits.”
In last years, Grasim-Nagda has taken the great step of committing to Zero Liquid Discharge. Work is in progress and will be completed in 2021. Nagda Plant will be the first viscose Unit in the world to achieve ZLD.
Taking inspiration from the UN SDG 6 for protecting, conserving and regenerating the water eco-system around us, Grasim is committed towards working in this direction to improve the availability of water, the most precious shared resource, for everyone.
In 2020, Grasim Industries was ranked 9th among the top 10 Indian corporates for its Sustainability and CSR practices by the ET and Futurescape 7th Responsible Business Rankings and won the prestigious Golden Peacock Global Award for Sustainability in the Textile and Apparel sector and Industries resonating the commitment to its stakeholders.
Grasim believes in and is committed in giving back to society. Grasim’s growth is closely intertwined with the economic development of Nagda. Grasim Industries is working with an unrelenting focus on making a qualitative difference to the lives of the villagers in proximity to its plants
Narsingh, Sarpanch informed, “Grasim Nagda team has provided great service in constructing and renovating various check dams, drinking water tanks, ponds and also implementing an RO plant for the benefit of villagers”
Its holistic CSR program is carried under the aegis of the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, spearheaded by Mrs. Rajashree Birla, the Chairperson of the Centre. Besides the CSR team, Grasim works very closely with the District Rural Development Authorities, Health Department, Village Panchayats, the District Animal Husbandry, Agriculture, Horticulture, departments among others. The community engagement program of Grasim-Nagda spans 55 villages and 25 urban slums, reaching out to over 1 lac people.
