The categorisation is based on a pollution index developed by the environment ministry taking into account the emissions, effluents, and hazardous waste generated, and the resources it consumes
March 6, 2016
Despite of being one of the most sustainable industries in terms of raw material and recyclability, there is no end to the blues of the Indian pulp and paper industry. A year after it decided on a new colour-coded categorisation of industries based on their pollution potential, the government recently came up with a list of industries that would now be classified as red, orange or green, and the different rules that they would be subjected to. And, it has marked the pulp and paper in red.
A new category, white, has been added to include the industries that are “practically non-polluting”. These industries, like air cooler or air conditioning units, chalk factories, biscuit tray units, won’t need a green clearance enabling easier financing.
The classification is for entire industrial sectors and not for individual units. Cement industry, for example, has been put in the red, so all cement factories will get a red rating irrespective of norms that they adhere to.
Petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, sugar, paper and pulp, nuclear power plants, organic chemicals, fertilizers, fire crackers have all been placed in the red category. Orange category includes coal washeries, glass manufacturing, paints, stone crushers, and aluminium and copper extraction from scrap.
The green industries include aluminium utensils, steel furniture, soap manufacturing and tea processing. There are 63 industries in this list. A total of 36 industries have been categorised as white.
The categorisation is based on a pollution index developed by the environment ministry taking into account the emissions, effluents, and hazardous waste generated, and the resources it consumes. Industries scoring 60 and above on a scale of 1 to 100 have been rated red. An index between 41 and 59 earns an orange category, while a score between 21 and 39 gets a green. Pollution index lower than 20 have been rated white.
