Environment
Balkrishna Industries Ltd. holds the preservation of the planet as a core part of its ethos. As firm believers in the Precautionary Principle, we consider it our responsibility to conserve environmental resources for sustainable development, and undertake all possible steps - from our business model, to product design and operations.
Have you heard of the term embedded sustainability? This means that our care for the environment is purposefully ingrained within our processes - from the way we design for and extend the sustainability of our products (tire life cycle enhancements), efficient use of materials (1:1 material input: output ratio), logistics planning for reducing the carbon footprint of cargo, R&D and cutting edge technology to boost sustainability. These endeavors are detailed in other chapters of this report - so take a look to learn more!
Our direct initiatives in planetary care take the form of energy conservation, emissions control, water efficiency, waste management and materials management - the details of which are shared in this section.
The Indian Government has recognized BKT with the National Energy Conservation Award for several years. Across 2021 and 2022, we were particularly proud to say that our Chopanki plant won both national and state level Energy Conservation Awards.
These winnings further reflect our continuous commitment to a sustainable future: “Growing Together”.
At BKT, one of our core focuses is making our daily processes kinder to the environment. One way we achieve this is by honing in on greener ways to harness energy and manage our emissions.
It all started when we set up our windmill in Rajasthan way back in 2004, in order to adopt a green way of producing the energy for our operations. This was the first key indication of our commitment to green energy - which has been ever-growing over the years.
Across 2020 and 2021, we reduced our non-renewable energy usage by 16.38%. Our wind farm in Rajasthan now has an installed capacity of 5 MW per day, feeding our Bhiwadi plant - yet we plan to upgrade our solar capacity to 5.5 MW in the future. We are especially proud of our solar plants at Bhuj and Chopanki, which further enhance our efforts in green energy. Our strategy in the last few years has been to deploy wind and solar energy sources, and create several projects - including our Green Belt - at the plants which further aid these reduced emissions.
We will continue to constantly monitor and improve our green energy production processes and their outcomes, as we strive towards a greener future.
At BKT, we pride ourselves on being pioneers in technology. But this was no happy accident; we have our local workforce and in-house facilities to thank! Our six manufacturing facilities in India include five tire plants, one mold plant, and an integrated in-house Carbon Black plant - giving us the opportunity to thrive using all the latest technologies across the land.
Our innovative use of technology allows us to stay on top of all the latest sustainable developments in our industry; we are constantly on the lookout for new and improved ways to undertake our daily processes, aided by clean, high tech. At BKT, we are proud to say that all our operations and processes utilize sustainable innovations, efficient material management and clean technologies.
We strongly believe in the importance of green belts to shape a sustainable future, hence our green cover projects across numerous plants! We started green cover projects at our Chopanki and Bhiwadi plants, yet our Bhuj plant significantly scaled our green initiatives in the last few years.
Bhuj is our largest plant - so we are especially excited with the progress we have recently made with this project. Recently, we planted trees, grass and additional shrubs, which led to many endangered species taking shelter in our newly formed habitat. Also, we've managed to plant 57,895 trees inside the Bhuj plant, and 43,059 trees outside the premises.
What’s more, these green belts benefit the communities around them. Not only do they allow villagers to breathe cleaner air, but the entire green belt within the Bhuj plant and the residential colony are fed by our treated water supplies. Also, at Bhiwadi and Chopanki, we have enlarged the ponds for the benefit of the villagers.
We are very excited to introduce our Carbon Black plant. Carbon Black is up-and-coming in our industry, as it reinforces filler in tires in a cost-effective, sustainable way.
So, what exactly is Carbon Black? Carbon Black is an additive mainly used for coloring and rubber and plastic products reinforcement. The feature that made Carbon Black widespread in industrial production is its ability to give a deep, everlasting black color. Furthermore, it protects from UV rays and guarantees durability.
We are pleased to announce that 100% of our Carbon Black requirements are now officially met in-house. Producing our own Carbon Black has dual benefits: fully proofing our supply for the growing business and reducing the costs and environmental footprint of imports and transport. Another important factor is the marked reduction in fossil fuel usage and emissions through transport. Our Carbon Black plant is an 100% energy efficient system built and set for zero loss of resources.
BKT has developed in-house technology to integrate Carbon Black manufacturing with tire plants and power generation, and also developed green area, water body and energy conservation measures to make it one of the most environmentally sustainable Carbon Black plants in the world!
At BKT, we consider it our responsibility to conserve water: reducing ground water consumption despite the boom of our business. But how do we achieve this? Our rain water harvesting systems play a great role in reducing our ground water withdrawal. The ETPs and STPs across the plants, alongside two large reservoirs at Bhuj, form our key infrastructure for water conservation. Bhuj, our largest plant, is a zero liquid discharge plant, with no water discharged from the premises.
Across 2020 and 2021, our water consumption was further reduced by 3.47% - and we aim to continue this steady reduction. In the next 5 years, in fact, we will aim for all plants to follow in Bhuj’s footsteps, and be ZLD (Zero Liquid Discharge).
We approach waste management as a responsibility towards the environment. We focus on minimizing waste generation and a responsible disposal. As a manufacturer, we are particularly sensitive to the issue of waste generation - not only during production but also during packaging and transport stages.
Our motto is simple: no waste should leave our premises. We continuously monitor and measure our waste management to ensure we meet this goal.
We are proud to have achieved 14.9% waste reduction in the last three years. All in all, we have a zero landfill status at all our plants, and recycle all generated waste - except for hazardous waste, which is disposed of according to safety norms. Our 10-year goals are to achieve 20% waste reduction, and 8-10% reduction of resources.
We consider our approach to material management to be a key part of smart business, as well as all-important planetary resource conservation. Choosing the right vendors, the right materials, the right usage and right measurement are an essential part of a successful material management strategy.
As a tire manufacturer, we are proud to have both the privilege and responsibility to directly contribute to sustainable mobility. This means that every stage of our operations are crucial, from raw material selection to material management.
At BKT, we undertake continuous process optimization, which is based on these sustainable innovations. This has led to our 1:1 material input-output ratio with 99% efficiency - proving our effective leaps and bounds in sustainable material management.