ITC moves beyond plastic neutrality; managed over 54,000 tonnes in FY22

Diversified entity, ITC Ltd on Wednesday said it is accelerating its move to go beyond plastic neutrality, having sustainably managed more than 54,000 tonnes of plastic waste across India in 2021-22.

The company said its flagship solid waste management programme Well-Being Out of Waste' (WOW) has so far covered 1.8 crore citizens across 46.7 lakh households in India's large cities and small towns.

"Through a large-scale and integrated solid waste management programme, ITC moved beyond plastic neutrality this year. In addition, the company is also using cutting-edge innovations to develop sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging for the industry," Sanjiv Rangrass group head, ITC Life Sciences & Technology, Central Projects, EHS & Quality Assurance, ITC Ltd said in a statement.

He further said, "The efforts to move beyond plastic neutrality and sustainable management of waste will continue apace in the years ahead as part of our Sustainability 2.0 agenda."

Under its Chairman Sanjiv Puri's Sustainability 2.0 vision, the company is striving for inclusive strategies that can support even more livelihoods and pursue newer pathways to fight climate change.

ITC said the amount of plastic waste managed exceeded the amount of plastic packaging utilised by it during 2021-22, enabling it to achieve the milestone of plastic neutrality.

The company further said it has adopted a multi-pronged approach to reduce plastic in its operations spanning FMCG, hotels, paperboards and packaging.

These include creating robust next-generation environment friendly packaging solutions, mega-scale waste collection programmes under its flagship waste management initiative 'ITC WOW Well-Being Out of Waste' as well as focussed interventions in rural areas, among others, it added.