Tetra Pak, which takes its corporate social responsibility very seriously, sees consumers as pivotal to creating sustainable impact, says Juhi Gupta, Director Sustainability- South Asia Markets, in an interview. Excerpts:
How seriously does Tetra Pak take its corporate citizenship?
Tetra Pak recognises its immense responsibility as a corporate citizen being one of the leading packaging & processing company. If I were to pick up the waste management space, it is extremely critical to also have consumers engaged because in the waste value chain they also play a big role. Lack of segregation of waste at source is the core problem. Once the consumers take ownership of this responsibility, which is happening as people are more conscious today, we will see establishment of more effective waste management systems. If we need to promote sustainability, everyone needs to set mandates for themselves, as not everything can be enforced by the government, a lot of things will have to come from within. While it is easy to point out that it is the industry’s responsibility, as a citizen it is also my responsibility to see how I can improve the waste management system. So, citizen movement is very important. The key constituent in all our corporate citizenship programmes is the citizens. We have one programme with RUR Green Life called “Go Green with Tetra Pak” which is focused on consumer awareness on used cartons collection & segregation. It is being implemented in partnership with Reliance Retail. We have set up more than 210 collection points across Reliance Smart Stores & Sahakari Bhandars in Mumbai, where consumers send the cartons for disposal by putting it in the right bin so that it can be recycled into something useful like benches to be distributed in various community centres, municipal parks or under-privileged schools. The program ensures that not only there is environmental consciousness promoted amongst the citizens but also there is a social purpose behind all their efforts.
What are your most sustainable social impact initiatives and what has been the outcome?
Among multiple projects we are associated with, on creating consumer awareness on segregation of cartons for driving recycling, one project on social sustainability, close to my heart is a programme we have with Bal Vikas Dhara, a Delhi based NGO working with waste pickers mostly in slum areas. We have been working with about 5,000 waste pickers for the last 13 years to provide education for their children, access to healthcare facilities, as they are more vulnerable due the nature of their work handling hazardous waste, and third is to help women engaged in waste collection and segregation. We have set up six non- formal centres called ‘Asha Ki Kiran’, where around 300 children are enrolled every year for training them for admission in mainstream schools for better education.
For health monitoring we have created an OPD where the doctor comes every day to provide support on both preventive and curative healthcare to the waste worker communities. Medicines at highly subsidised costs are also provided under the programme. We have also established a tailoring centre where women are trained for six months to be able to enhance household incomes. This is helping to drive their economic independence and empower them towards better education and healthcare for their children. We are also helping waste workers to avail of various government schemes by helping them with ID cards, employment (Shram) cards, etc., thereby create a social safety net for them.
Would you say consumer consciousness about sustainable products is increasing and acting as a catalyst or a challenge for you?
Yes, we would say rising consumer awareness is a catalyst for us. Sustainability was earlier seen as an ancillary function, while today it is mainstream. It is intrinsically linked to business and plays a key role in planning a sustainability roadmap when you are looking at your product offerings. Your customers and consumers play a catalytic role today in demanding sustainable products and services, motivating the organisations to look at their product line to be sustainable from the design stage itself and looking at the entire life cycle assessment of the project adopting a cradle to grave approach. While everyone seeks sustainability, there are challenges also in terms - gaps when it comes to paying cost premiums for sustainable products and adopting initiatives which may not bring immediate returns but provide long- term sustainability benefits. Sustainability also leads to better optimisation of resources and thus drive reduction in costs. Ultimately, it is a win-win for everyone.