Adding to its bouquet of green initiatives, ITC Ltd - the tobacco-to-hotels giant - has launched a new multi-purpose 'green paper’, which is being manufactured without the toxic effluents being relased into the environment.
Named as "Paperkraft Premium Business Paper", the paper is made by using a novel technology -Ozone Treated Elemental Chlorine Free technology - orignally developed by Metso in Sweden. A spokesperson of the ITC said ''the technology has been co-developed with ITC Ltd for Indian raw materials.’’
''This unique product is an integral part of ITC's initiatives to augment natural and scare resources and has been launched in line with company’s commitment to building economic, environmental and social capital for the nation,’’ the company spokesperson said.
The Paperkraft is made through a process which eliminates the release of chlorine - a mandatory byproduct of the paper manufacturing in the traditional way and which is one of the worst water and soil polluters.
The company claims the Paperkraft is ''the whitest and brightest 75 GSM business paper manufactured in India and has a higher archival life.’’
The ITC, which already has its popular stationery brand of ''Classmate’’ notebooks in the market, would introduce the 'green paper’ through its Education and Stationery products business.
ITC claims to be the only company in the world to have achieved the milestones of being ''carbon positive, water positive and achieving close to 100 % solid waste recycling.’’
Also in the paper manufacture, the company was the first to adopt the Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) technology in India and now it has surpassed all stipulated government legislation on emission levels.
ITC sources the raw material from its social and farm forestry project, which covers over 85,000 hectares and has created over 35 million mandays of employment.
