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Minister of Environment and Forests Thiru A. Raja urged the pulp and paper industry to adopt safer alternatives for raw materials, lesser and benign chemicals like chlorine free bleaching, and enzymatic delignification. Addressing the 5th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) here today, Thiru Raja said that well-established biotechnologies such as bio-bleaching, use of fungi and a mixture of enzymes may be adopted by the paper industry for meeting environmental quality norms and for equiping itself to meet global challenges.
“The paper industry through-out the world, particularly in the developed countries, has well understood the importance of two Es i.e. Energy and Environment, and have made significant advances in water conservation, energy saving, and effective environmental management, along with improved quality standards. This has to be replicated by the Indian Paper Industry”, he added.
Observing that the large integrated mills are equipped with chemical recovery plants and have better capability of handling waste generated in the mills, the Minister pointed out that “the problem lies mainly with medium and small agro based mills that do not have chemical recovery plants, and are, therefore, unable to comply with environmental norms”, adding that “small-scale industry should either enhance their capacities so that chemical recovery becomes feasible, or shift to recycled fiber mode”.
Stating that pulp and paper industry is resource intensive, be it forest products, or water, or energy and is one of the highly polluting industries, Thiru Raja said that the Government has already promulgated environmental standards for water effluents, air emissions, and solid and hazardous wastes, as well as issued guidelines for safe handling of hazardous chemicals and waste under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
Thiru Raja further disclosed that the Ministry of Environment and Forests is also in the process of notifying new standards for Absorbable Organic Halogens (known as AOX, which measures the amount of chlorinated organic compounds in pulp and paper effluent discharge) in the liquid effluent for both large and small-scale industry. “The standards have been evolved after a series of consultations with industry, and shall be soon notified. Some of the large industries are already meeting the proposed standards, others need to gear up for the same,” he said.
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