Case study: How Hindalco treats waste responsibly
Hindalco is a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group and an industry leader in aluminium and copper products, with mining and manufacturing operations spread across nine states in India. Hindalco’s operations generate significant quantities of mineral waste, as well as some non-mineral and hazardous wastes. Accordingly, Hindalco has ingrained the ‘avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle’ approach across its operations.
This case study is based on the 2018-19 Sustainability Report by Hindalco published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Hindalco continuously seeks to minimise the quantum and maximise the recycling and reuse of the waste generated by its operations. Tweet This! In order to treat waste responsibly Hindalco took action to:
- launch the ‘Value from Waste’ initiative
- adopt the circular economy approach
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Hindalco has identified;
- How Hindalco proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Hindalco to treat waste responsibly
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2018-19 Sustainability Report Hindalco identified a range of material issues, such as environmental compliance, GHG emissions, ethics and integrity, occupational health and safety, water availability. Among these, treating waste responsibly stands out as a key material issue for Hindalco.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Hindalco engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics Hindalco engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Employees
| · Emails and Meetings · Intranet Portals · Employee Satisfaction Surveys · Training Programmes · Performance appraisal reviews · Grievance Redressal Mechanisms |
| Customers | · Emails and Meetings · Customer Satisfaction Surveys · Grievance Redressal Mechanisms |
| Suppliers | · Emails and Meetings · Vendor Assessment & Review · Supplier Audits · Signed Contracts · Training Workshops and Seminars · Social Gatherings |
| Communities
| · Training & Workshops · Regular Meetings · Need Assessment & Satisfaction Surveys · CSR Reports |
| Investors and shareholders
| · Board Meetings · Annual Reports · Website |
| Government and regulatory bodies
| · Annual Reports · Communication with regulatory bodies · Formal Dialogues |
| Media | · Social Media · Press Releases · Interviews · Website |
| Industry associations | · Meetings |
What actions were taken by Hindalco to treat waste responsibly?
In its 2018-19 Sustainability Report Hindalco reports that it took the following actions for treating waste responsibly:
- Launching the ‘Value from Waste’ initiative
- Hindalco’s ‘Value from Waste’ initiative is aimed at achieving 100 utilisation of key wastes by 2025. In alignment to this initiative, Hindalco’s wastes like bauxite residue, fly ash, spent pot lining, aluminium dross, vanadium sludge, copper slag and phospho-gypsum are collected, stored and disposed. The total waste generation from Hindalco’s operations during the reporting period was 13.07 million MT, of which 0.37 million MT was hazardous waste and 12.70 million MT was non-hazardous waste. A major part of solid waste generated from Hindalco’s operations consists of bauxite residue and fly ash, and Hindalco focuses on maximum utilisation of these wastes.
- Adopting the circular economy approach
- As part of its circular economy approach, Hindalco has identified avenues for utilisation of waste generated from its industry as a raw material for various other industries. Hindalco has taken specific initiatives for waste disposal of bauxite residue and spent pot lining. The spent pot lining is processed in-house for further reuse as a refractory application. The bauxite residue is sold to cement industries as useful raw material and for manufacturing of paver blocks. The project for utilisation of bauxite residue with geo-polymer for construction application was initiated during the reporting period and is under progress as of now. In addition to these initiatives, a study was carried out for utilisation of bauxite residue for backfilling of mines. This has helped Hindalco dispose of the waste generated from the previous financial year as well. In FY 2018-19, a total of 13.75 million MT of waste was disposed, of which 0.32 million MT was hazardous waste and 13.43 million MT was non-hazardous waste.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 306-2 Waste by type and disposal method
Disclosure 306-2 Waste by type and disposal method corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
- Targets: 3.9
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
- Targets: 6.3
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Targets: 12.4, 12.5
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Hindalco, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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