Hundreds of farmers, ITC’s Paper Boards and Specialty Papers Division plant in Bhadrachalam as well as the environment stood to benefit significantly once the bridge across a river that links Malkangiri district of Odisha and Telangana is ready, a senior executive of ITC said on Thursday.
Addressing a one- day national conference on ‘Packaging Sustainability - Towards a Circular Economy’, Sanjay K.Singh, Divisional Chief Executive, said the bridge, across the tributary of river Godavari, will reduce the distance from the plantations in Odisha to the facility in Bhadrachalam by 170 km.
As part of its social agro-forestry project, ITC had started plantations and already covered 3,000 hectares. “Our target is 50,000 hectares in next 10 years,” he said, highlighting the measures for sustainability initiated by the group.
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The bridge across the river, being built by Odisha government, is expected to be be ready in six months and reduce travel time, fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
By June-July next year, the trees will be ready for harvesting, he said, this is a small step that will deliver huge benefits for the farmers as well as ITC since the areas near the facility in Bhadrachalam are saturated.
Mr.Singh was the chief guest at the conference organised by the Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) – Hyderabad.
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The Institute Director N.C.Saha said the growth in lifestyle and consumption pattern has increased the demand for packaged products resulting in growth in packaging industry. Indian packaging industry accounts for about 4% of the global packaging industry, which is estimated around $880 billion.