Colgate India is first Indian co. to be certified TRUE Zero Waste Platinum

Colgate India has received TRUE Zero Waste Platinum certification, for all its four manufacturing sites in India, from Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally.

GBCI administers TRUE Zero Waste certification, a program for businesses to assess performance in reducing waste and maximizing resource efficiency. Facilities earn TRUE certification by achieving minimum program requirements and attaining points; the program operates on a ranking system, with ‘Platinum’ being the highest certification level.

The TRUE Zero Waste certification program is meant to enable facilities to define, pursue and achieve their zero waste goals, cutting their carbon footprint and supporting public health. TRUE-certified spaces support sustainability and facilities that achieve the highest level of the rating system are acknowledged for minimizing their waste to landfill, incineration (waste-to-energy) or to the environment.

All the four manufacturing plants of Colgate India – Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Goa, Sanand (Gujarat), and Sri City (Andhra Pradesh) – have achieved Platinum, the highest level of certification. This makes Colgate India the first Indian company to receive this accreditation.

Issam Bachaalani, Managing Director, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited, said, “At Colgate India, we have been constantly practicing the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle principle across all our plants and offices. We have built dedicated teams to encourage and educate employees on minimizing waste, and to implement measures that could bring about that change.”

To cite one example, in 2018 alone, over 1.2 million kgs of residual wastewater solids was diverted to cement factories, to be co-processed into cement, instead of being sent to a landfill.

“Zero waste is an important part of any company’s sustainability and corporate social responsibility strategy,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, U.S. Green Building Council and GBCI. “As markets continue to urbanize and industrialize, cities and businesses are faced with an increasing amount of waste that puts strains on resources and communities. TRUE-certified facilities are environmentally responsible, more resource efficient and help turn waste into savings. By closing the loop, they cut greenhouse gases, manage risk, reduce litter and pollution, reinvest resources locally, create jobs and add more value for their company and community.”

In order to achieve TRUE Zero Waste certification, Colgate India not only implemented the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle principle, but also diverted waste, which would have otherwise gone to a landfill, through processes like Composting, Zero Waste Purchasing, Hazardous Waste Prevention, Redesigning, Innovation, Employee Trainings to bring about an attitudinal change, etc.

An in-house Green Team encouraged employees at all four Colgate plants to actively think of diverting waste at every possible step, which led to a lot of new ideas. Some examples include sending residual wastewater solids to cement factories; making furniture out of plastic tubes; reusing packaging materials; reusing the drums used for raw materials as dust bins; reducing food wastage by associating with an NGO to take the extra food to underprivileged people, and the leftovers to piggeries; using reusable stainless steel utensils in the cafeteria; composting organic waste to use it as soil-conditioner for the plants/vegetables grown on site.

Facilities achieve TRUE Zero Waste certification by meeting seven minimum program requirements and attaining at least 31 out of 81 credit points in the TRUE Zero Waste Rating System. The number of credit points that a project earns determines the certification level it receives (Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum with ‘Platinum’ being the highest rank). 

Points & Parameters that determine the TRUE Zero Waste ratings: