New Delhi: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, has now achieved a significant milestone by deploying a new Material Recovery Facility to segregate and process waste into useful materials, at its operations in Jharsuguda district of Odisha.

A major step towards the company’s goal of achieving 'Zero Waste', the new facility will help treat and sustainably manage waste material generated at the Jharsuguda plant, channeling them into new productive uses.

In March 2023 alone, the facility converted 27,828 kgs, or nearly 28 tonnes, of dry and wet waste into several useful materials. Recyclable valuable waste generated from the Material Recovery Facility is further utilized within the plant’s operations, such as bio-compost and briquettes utilized for horticulture activities. Any non-recyclable materials generated from the Material Recovery Facility are sent to cement industries for co-processing, demonstrating new possibilities in establishing circular economy avenues within the domestic manufacturing landscape.

At BALCO, the company’s subsidiary in Korba of Chhattisgarh, employees received insights on integrating environment-friendly practices into their daily lives. Employee volunteers placed eco-friendly earthen pots in the vicinity of the plant premises to provide relief to animals and birds from the summer heat. Similarly, at Vedanta’s alumina refinery in Lanjigarh of Odisha, employee volunteers planted a community garden with medicinal herbs like aloe vera, ashwagandha, tulsi, insulin plant, and peppermint.