Waste pays

ENVIRONMENT protection need not be a dirty word in business. In fact, instead of being considered a financial loss, it can be turned into a profit making proposition. Industries are beginning to realise that "waste minimisation" can not only help them save money by saving raw material and fuel, but also improve their image.

Waste minimisation is clearly preferable to end-of-the-pipe (EOP) treatment because it reduces the amount of pollutants produced. Says V Ramadurai, president of Standard Industries, a Rs 280 crore, Bombay based chemical manufacturer, "The EOP approach is being replaced wherever possible by waste minimisation."

Waste minimisation programmes aim at reducing health and environment hazards. But of greater interest to business are the opportunities it provides to promote more efficient use of costly inputs and reduce waste treatment and disposal costs.

There is nothing fancy about waste minimisation. Small industries can minimise their wastes by simply monitoring what goes down the drain and using it. But for a more formal approach, a waste audit is necessary, explains K P Nyati, environment adviser to the Confederation of Indian Industry. Waste audits can identify production systems that produce excess waste and suggest how to optimise the existing process to improve waste recovery or shift to a cleaner process.

Immediate returns
Waste minimisation also does not involve any high technology -- it has more to do with small investments and common sense. And, returns are immediate because of lower raw material consumption, smaller effluent load and, thereby, smaller treatment needs.

Nyati argues waste minimisation must become an integral part of manufacturing processes. The former president of the Punjab and Haryana Development Chamber of Commerce and Industry, S S Kanwar, says recovery and recycling of wastes should become a part of the business philosophy in any enterprise. R S Tarneja, chairperson of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry's expert committee on environment, also says industrial wastes need not be a losing proposition.

Wastes can be used in two ways -- either as raw material for the product that produces it or as raw material for another product. But, cautions Ramadurai, industries must have a comprehensive strategy on waste minimisation. He quotes the example of DuPont, the US chemicals giant that earned $70 million in 1990 from recycled wastes. Had DuPont not tried waste minimisation, by 2000, it would have incurred $100 million in disposal costs.

Comprehensive strategy
However, not all waste minimisation strategies have been successful. Says A K Basak, advisor to the Development Commissioner of Small-Scale Industries, "There have been instances when waste abatement measures meant extra labour for the workers, who carried out waste minimisation procedures only in the presence of the owner." But P B Duggal, secretary of the Federation of Associations of Small Industries of India, feels this problem can be overcome by channelling the extra income yielded from waste minimisation back to the employees.

There are a handful of industries, large and small, that have taken to waste minimisation for various reasons. Some, like Nirula's, the Delhi based, fast food chain, saw in it a chance to boost their public image and reduce effluent treatment costs. Some, like Palam Potteries, were forced into it and others, like MC Engineering, took it up because it made plain economic sense.