Toyota Kirloskar Motor Recognized for Best Water and Hazardous Waste Management Practices by CII

Toyota Kirloskar Motor was awarded by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Region for its outstanding contribution in Water and hazardous Waste management at the recently conducted 1^st Edition of Water & Waste Management Competition, held in Chennai (Virtual session).  The award recognizes relentless efforts of TKM in setting-up benchmark practices in becoming “Water Positive Company” and enhancing TKM’s Waste KPI performance through impactful initiatives.

Over the years, TKM has consciously transformed the core of its business spirit from a carmaker into a mobility company by applying the values of sustainable business practice. The company’s commitment towards a sustainable future outlines the brand’s endeavour towards natural resource management and safeguarding the environment.

Keeping with our principle of ‘Respect for the Planet’, Toyota announced the ‘Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 (TEC 2050)’ in October 2015 comprising of six environment challenge. The holistic vision aims to achieve Net ZERO CO2 from product, manufacturing & across life cycle. Further the set challenges aim towards creating a positive impact on the environment by water conservation, establishing a recycle based society and living in harmony with nature.

Water scarcity is one of the most critical issues of the 21^st century. Thus, water conservation at TKM has become an utmost priority and multiple efforts were taken to address the environmental challenge of minimizing and optimizing water consumption. Water being a shared and valuable resource in India, we strive to bring down our freshwater consumption by adopting Recycling, Rainwater Harvesting, and promoting Kaizen to reduce specific water consumption. Through these initiatives, we have reduced our freshwater utilization by 90% for manufacturing. During FY 2020 -2021, we could reduce 142,982 m3 of freshwater consumption.

Further, as a part of TEC2050, TKM focuses and promote effective implementation of Reduce, Reuse & Recycle concept in manufacturing process. TKM has established effective Waste Management practices at its operation through source reduction by implementing innovative technologies and we have enhanced the recyclability of waste to 96%. Moving further, the company intends to implement the concept of CRADLE to CRADLE, where the waste material is put back to manufacturing process, thus supports the principle of circular economy.

Our philosophy of Toyota Production System (TPS) involves achieving complete elimination of all waste in pursuit of the most efficient methods under the concept “Just-in-time” in which each process produces only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed for the next process in a continuous flow with improved productivity. This basic principle facilitates producing quality products efficiently through the complete elimination of waste, inconsistencies, and unreasonable requirements on the production line (known respectively, in Japanese, as Muda - Unwanted, Mura - Unevenness, Muri - Over-burden).

Through adopting 6R concept, we are continuously striving towards establishing a recycle based society and aiming at promoting these initiatives across our value chain. Focusing on source reduction, we have taken up various activities such as sealer recycling, Metal dust recycling, Robo-Distance Reduction, and sludge reduction through drying process etc.

Expressing his delight on receiving the award, Mr. Raju B. Ketkale, Deputy Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “Toyota has given utmost importance to environment and all our initiatives are designed in such a way that serves towards lowering our environmental impact and achieving the ultimate goal of ‘Living in Harmony with Nature.’ We are continuously striving to be a role model in the industry with our unique initiatives, aiming towards creating a positive impact on the environment by water conservation and waste management.

It is an honor to achieve this award recognizing TKM’s incalculable efforts and responsible contribution to build a safer ecosystem for society thus bringing an impactful difference in the lives of the people. This achievement is a testament of our efforts and inspires us to continue to improve our processes”

Toyota’s interventions thrive on community awareness, involvement and ownership, the seeds of which are sown in our holistic engagement model. With the support of all its stakeholders and business partners, TKM intends to build a future society in harmony with nature.