Waste & Effluent Management

Waste

GRI Standards

At KNPL, waste management is crucial for environmental stewardship, regulatory compliance and operational efficiency. We implement various initiatives. We intend to designate qualified external organisations to conduct impartial third-party audits for a subset of our waste management agencies (WMAs) and recyclers. This ensures the timely completion of our EPR activity and verifies that the standard operating procedures of our WMAs comply with government regulations.

Thrust Areas: For Judicious Waste Management

• Segregated storage of waste in designated areas across all plants
• Methodical tracking of waste generation and disposal quantities
• Ensuring disposal of waste at authorised Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) in compliance with statutory requirements
• Implementing hazardous waste co-processing across all plants
• Embracing the 3Rs principle - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - for effective waste management

Waste Generated

In FY 2023-24, our organisation-wide total waste generation was 9,274 MT, of which 913 MT was hazardous waste, 2 MT was E-waste, 0.1 MT was bio-medical waste 3476 MT was contaminated containers waste (barrels, tins, drums), 507 MT of other hazardous waste, 12.7 MT of battery waste and non-hazardous waste of 3282 MT.

Specific Hazardous Waste Generation for our manufacturing facilities is accounted as 2.53 Kg/KL of FG for FY 2023-24.

Hazardous waste generated due to our operations mainly includes distillation residue, Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) sludge, paint sludge, dirty resin, contaminated barrel/tins, filter cartridge, and contaminated cotton waste.

Method of Calculation:

1. Manufacturing Facilities - Specific Hazardous Waste Generation is ratio of hazardous waste generated in Plants to Production of Finished Goods during specified period.
2. Organisation-wide -Specific Hazardous Waste Generation is ratio of hazardous waste generated in Plants and R&D centre to Production of Finished Goods during specified period.

Waste Disposal

At KNPL, waste is separated and then sent to authorised Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) for disposal, reuse, or recycling following applicable laws and regulations. By implementing the coprocessing of hazardous waste in cement kilns, our Company has successfully diverted the majority of our waste from landfills.

Additionally, we transformed 23.3 MT of organic canteen and food waste into 13.6 MT of high-quality manure through a bio-composting treatment process.

This manure is used internally for gardens and horticulture. This has helped KNPL to handle organic waste and reduce carbon emissions, lessen methane production and divert garbage from landfill.

Waste Diverted From Disposal

Reusable cartridge in the filtration process

Cleaning solvents of all major resins are reused in the next batch of same resins

In paint section, system controls have been implemented to ensure reuse of paint filled in part filled cans in the next compatible batch of paint

In operations, cleaning solvent is reused after distillation process again for equipment cleaning

Paint Pigging wash water reuse

TiO2 recovery through de-dusting

Reusing drums and barrels

Take-back mechanism with suppliers supplying raw materials in plastic bags

Waste Directed to Disposal

Barrels/Tins are recycled through authorized vendors

Plastic waste, corrugated boxes and metal scrap generated within factory premises is recycled through authorized vendors

Raw materials procured in recyclable packaging material

E-waste sent through buy-back programme

E-waste sent through buy-back programme

At KNPL, we have taken concerted efforts to reduce our plastic waste generation through our manufacturing facilities. Through rigorous due-diligence process and constant communication, we encourage suppliers to substitute plastic with alternate materials or implement a take back mechanism. During the reporting period, we ensured zero procurement and usage of packing material less than the thickness limit in microns set by the regulatory bodies.

Extended Producer Responsibility

In FY 2023-24, KNPL collected, recycled, co-processed and safely disposed of 12,068 MT of post-consumer plastic waste, including rigid and flexible plastic. This was in accordance with the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules of 2016 and the National Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) released in 2022

Keeping Our Waters Clean

KNPL is dedicated to safeguarding both people and the environment from potential harm due to water discharge at our manufacturing facilities. At our major facilities, we rigorously implement systems and technologies to uphold Zero Liquid Discharge standards, ensuring that all wastewater is effectively treated and reused, with no discharge into the environment. This ensures that effluents from our processes do not contaminate water bodies through runoff.

Following primary and secondary treatment, wastewater undergoes further processing in cutting-edge water recovery facilities, including Agitated Thin Film Dryer (ATFD), Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) units. This enables effective water recovery from wastewater. The collected water is then reused for additional internal purposes.

We have dedicated treatment facilities for both domestic and industrial effluents, supported by an in-house laboratory to monitor effluent quality across all major manufacturing facilities. Moreover, KNPL’s ETP-treated water is further treated in ZLD and recycled for utility makeup, while the STP-treated water is reused for gardening and toilet flushing