| Gurgaon, situated
onto the periphery of National Capital Region (NCR) in
the state of Haryana, is fast growing industrial area
in the northern India. The hinterland city offers proximity
with the air port, capital (immediate market), national
highway, vast land for growth and expansion of industries.
It houses two automobile giants viz. Maruti Udyog Ltd.,
and Hero Honda Motors that has paved the way for the establishment
of other industries. The success of automobile sector,
developed infrastructure and amenities has provided impetus
for the establishment of other types of industries. The
establishment of industries evolved around the two giants.
Now there are openings and establishments for other sectors
including the other products and services. Still majority
of the participating industries in the project supply
their product as raw material for these two giants, like
automobile components, accessories etc.
As the demand from Honda and Maruti kept of increasing
all the time a pressure was always there on the suppliers
to meet them and that was the reason that suppliers
have kept their eye on the product quality and quantity
and not on the way they were producing it, which fetch
them in most of cases an unplanned production unit.
The supplier industries had fast production as their
prime objective that led to unplanned growth of manufacturing
processes and units. The concern for quality and environment
could not be taken into calculation while carrying out
such hasty expansion. As now, there is fast spreading
concept towards nature and energy conservation, industries
could not immune themselves from such requirements.
The principles of cleaner production, waste minimization,
optimum utilization of resources, meeting environmental
regulations had to be taken into consideration for the
well being of industries.
Gurgaon, a developing industrial cluster, is identified
where the concepts of Ecoprofit could be translated
into actions in a step by step fashion. It is also targeted
to make it a model city with reference to industries
establishment and production processes that takes environment
and quality into all the aspects it governs. There is
also an opportunity to showcase that by adopting such
projects and vision how industries can make it an economically
viable.
Thus, 21 industries from different sectors were chosen
on defined criteria to work with. The project year is
divided into three phases with five modules and nine
workshops for the participating industries every year.
The project activities have a defined structure to follow
that includes concept and techniques like cleaner production,
waste minimization, energy efficiency, material flow
analysis, team motivation and many more. The presentations
and measures suggested by international experts on the
concerned aspects helped industries towards environmental
impacts of their activities and products. Several follow
up visits are also made for performance evaluation and
problematic area identification.
The companies have benefited considerably when they
have adopted the Ecoprofit approach and have helped
them with better environmental compliances with a good
pay back period on investments made in this direction.
The certification of companies at the end of year also
gives them an edge as they become part of Ecoprofit
Club. The project has completed first year with the
certification ceremony for 21 industries for their successful
participation. The success of first year of the project
is already reaching at various levels viz., regulatory
authorities like Haryana State Pollution Control Board,
involvement of apex body in pollution control like Central
Pollution Control Board, encouragement from Ministerial
level and support from local administration. This is
expected to bring drastic change in the approach towards
environment among the participating industries in the
near future when their performances would be quantified
in all manners. Other industrial associations of the
same region have already started approaching the Ecoprofit
Team for their involvement in the future endeavors,
if any. That again indicates the success and benefit
of the project for the participating companies. It is
intended to translate the success and positives of the
Gurgaon Project to some other areas in the various parts
of country.
Among the implementing partners Stenum GmbH an Austrian
Environmental Consultancy & Research Company introduced
and developed the concept of ECOPROFIT which is a trigger
model for environmental management in Industrial business.
Stenum provides training covering all environmental
fields in a package of standard workshops. Adelphi Research
GmbH is an independent, non-profit institute that develops
and implements innovative sustainable development strategies
by carrying out a broad range of applied research, analysis,
and public policy consulting. Austria Recycling (AREC)
delivers technical assistance on the aspects pertaining
to waste management, recycling and re-use by delivering
presentations and demonstrations. Advisory Services
Environment Management (ASEM) develops, evaluates, disseminates
or coordinates projects that focus on eliminating or
reducing urban and industrial pollution in cooperation
with European Commission or other international developmental
agencies (United Nations, Asian Development Bank, World
Bank).
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