Hero MotoCorp – the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters – has emerged as a champion of sustainability, with all its eight facilities – including all the six manufacturing plants – in India being certified as ‘Zero-Waste-to-Landfill’(ZWL).
Making this announcement on the occasion of the World Environment Day, Niranjan Gupta, CEO, Hero MotoCorp, said “Sustainability is a commitment in our journey to be an environment-friendly business. Our zero-waste-to-landfill policy is rooted in our belief that to be a sustainable business, manufacturing with an unflinching commitment to the environment is as important as providing quality and fuel-efficient products and creating an engaging customer experience,” says.
“A booming economy with its ever-increasing manufacturing prowess, our country is still grappling with solid waste management, resulting in overflowing landfills in the hearts of mega cities. These landfills have been a source of multiple diseases and public health emergencies apart from posing a detrimental threat to the environment and groundwater reserves. Therefore, as the market leader, we at Hero MotoCorp took up this ambitious initiative to become completely zero waste-to-landfill, thereby setting a guiding example for the industry to follow,” he adds.
Sunil B. Medge Regional Manager, M/s Intertek India Pvt. Limited, the certifying body,said “Hero has shown tremendous success in reducing its waste output via segregation at source, promoting reusable packaging, adopting methods to utilize waste as an alternate source of energy, and creating resources from waste. One such unique example is of upcycling of grinding sludge which is converted to Ferric Alum, a useful resource in textile and other water treatment industries.”
The Zero Waste-to-Landfill pilot project was initiated at the company’s manufacturing facility at Neemrana in Rajasthan in the fiscal year 2018-19. Since then, the amount of waste generated has reduced by 40% and all the plants have achieved a diversion rate of more than 99.9% – well before the target timeline of 2025.
With six state-of-the-art plants in India – Dharuhera and Gurugram in Haryana, Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Neemrana in Rajasthan, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, and Halol in Gujarat – and the world-class Global Parts Centre (GPC) located in Neemrana and the world-class Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT) in Jaipur – Hero MotoCorp took up the ambitious goal of being zero-waste-to-landfill by 2025.
With a vast network of manufacturing facilities spread across the country producing more than six million units of motorcycles and scooters annually, going zero-waste-to-landfill required a holistic approach and a plan of action to achieve the ambitious targets the Company set for itself.
To begin with, the Company adopted an innovative water-based painting system that resulted in zero Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions, zero paint sludge, and low water consumption, thereby substantially reducing the creation of toxic and hazardous waste.
The Company also quickly switched over to the robotic painting process at all its plants, that resulted in higher paint transfer efficiency with a significant reduction in paint consumption and sludge generation.
Some of the other innovative best practices that has fast-tracked Hero MotoCorp’s journey to becoming zero-waste-to-landfill include upgrading the chemical components used in the paint pre-treatment process – from zinc–phosphate-based treatment to zirconium-based that led to the elimination of hazardous phosphate sludge with a significant reduction in water and thermal energy usage.
The best management of waste also involved recycling and reuse. Upcycling of grinding sludge to a useful product alum is another example of how the Company has been continuously innovating to sustain a circular economy.
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