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RSWM (formerly known as Rajasthan Spinning and Weaving Mills group) Ltd, one of India’s leading yarn and knitted fabric manufacturers, has taken up six initiatives as part of its sustainability and green drive, says Brij Mohan Sharma, its joint managing director (JMD).
“We have assigned different weightage to each of these areas and the performance on these six is measured. Finally, you get reports on the progress,” he told businessline in an online interaction.
The six areas the company has initiated sustainability measures are renewable energy, biofuel, recycling PET bottles, recycling textile wastes, water recycling and using organic manure in at least 50 per cent of its plants.
Brij Mohan Sharma, joint managing director, RSWM Ltd
₹35 crore investment
The company has set up a 20 megawatt (MW) wind power unit and it has a 40 MW wind power facility. Besides, it has a 32-MW in-house solar facility to supply green power to units.
The second initiative is to increase the use of biofuel in the boilers of its plants. RSWM’s target is to convert all its six boilers from coal to biofuels by 2025-end. Three of them are already running on biofuel, said Sharma.
RWSM, founded in the 1960s with 20,000-odd spindle capacity, is investing ₹35 crore to convert the coal-fired boilers, the RSWM JMD said.
The third initiative is the group converts six lakh PET bottles, including water bottles, into polyester fibre. Earlier, recycled polyester was not even 10 per cent of the total production but now, it makes up 50 per cent of the polyester the company produces. Virgin fibre makes up the rest, he said.
RSWM recently acquired land in Jammu where it plans to set up a recycled polyester facility, Sharma said, adding that the fourth initiative is to ensure that not a single kg of waste fibre, emanating from pre- or post-production process, in any of its plants is thrown out.
Zero liquid discharge
The company has open-ended spinning mills and it helps to make use of the waste generated in the spinning process. Similarly, in the fabric units it has a unit to convert and reuse the waste coming out of the fibre plant.
Water recycling and water consumption is the fifth initiative. “Each and every drop of water is recycled. It is either used for production or processing of fabric or some other use,” he said.
RWSM ensures zero liquid discharge in all its facilities. All plants have recycling facilities, including generating potable water that is distributed to residents in the nearby vicinity.
The company, whose spindle capacity is six lakh now, has a 220-acre green facility in Bhilwara, where it has set up an artificial lake, rain forest and an orchard. Most of its facilities have green cover, thanks to rainwater harvesting and planting trees. RSWM has a mechanism to harvest rainwater, the company’s JMD said.
Organic waste conversion
The company has facilities to convert its wastes into organic manure. It has mandated using 50 per cent of fertilisers or manure in its plants in organic form only. Some of the company’s agriculture plots are using 100 per cent organic manure, he said.
Sharma said performance parameters have been set for these six initiatives with actual performance being measured against industry standards and circulated within the organisation to give employees a sense of their performance.
RSWM has involved the community too, particularly in the four districts of Rajasthan where it has its facilities. The company has put up PET bottles recycling machines in public places to create awareness among the people. The machines have been put up in railway stations, bus terminus and other places where there is heavy footfall.
The company is working with the local administration and creating capital assets such as world class educational institutions that have been handed over for the welfare of the people, he said.
On the business front, the company has been going through a bad phase over the past 18 months but Sharma hopes it is a once in five years cycle which will get over soon.
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