The novel initiative by the Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan, Pune reached out to more than 5000 industries across Pune and nearby industrial belts received a great response, and 10 companies were audited from the applications received. On 4th June 2022, 3 manufacturing MSMEs – TBK India Private Limited, Harnex Systems Private Limited, and Deshmukh Udyog Private Limited were awarded for their green practices followed in their factory, with the intent of acknowledging their efforts toward conserving the environment.
Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan, Pune organised first of its kind Green Factory initiative to promote green practices and sustainable manufacturing among MSMEs. On 4th June 2022, 3 manufacturing MSMEs were awarded for their green practices followed in their factory, at Rotary Club Gandhi Bhavan Pune, with Sadashiv Survase, Joint Director of Industry Department, Government of Maharashtra as the chief guest along with dignitaries Deepak Karandikar, Vice President of MCCIA, Shital Shah, District Governor (2023-2024), Keshav Tamhankar the Past President of the Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan, Pune talking about the importance of Green Practices MSMEs should adopt and the impact it will have in the environment.
Chief Guest Sadashiv Suravse said that the Government is incentivizing such initiatives and endeavouring to support manufacturing companies who are taking measures towards the Green Factory Initiative, hence all SMEs should economize on such projects to make the farthest changes possible from their own ends. The three companies that were awarded the Green Factory Project Award are TBK India Private Limited, Harnex Systems Private Limited, and Deshmukh Udyog Private Limited.
Deepak Karandikar concerned about the environment said, “We cannot leave poor-quality earth behind for our next generations; we should be working to make the earth a safer place for the upcoming generations to live in. It is for them that these initiatives will make a significant difference. On an individual level, each one of us can do infinitesimal things to initiate the process from our side to get to the target.” Shital Shah, the Governor of the Rotary District of Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan thinks that this is a wonderful initiative since support for the environment is the key to life.
The Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan under this project asked SMEs in and around Pune to indicate their progress in ecological manufacturing based on four areas-energy conservation, water conservation, air quality conservation, and waste management. With the project initiation, around 5000 SMEs under this category had been approached by the Club. These SMEs were further assessed and shortlisted to 100. These shortlisted companies were then re-evaluated to finalize the three best companies that have executed these categories in all senses in their companies.
One of the three companies who got the award, Devendra Gandhi, Director of Harnex Systems said, “This initiative by the Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan, Pune is amazing because many companies like us have taken up small initiatives like solar panelling, zero plastic usage, rain harvesting, awards for cycling commuters, and many others within our own companies. We are thankful to the Rotary Club Gandhi Bhavan for initiating this project.”
“Thank you so much Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan, Pune for appreciating our efforts. This is an amazing initiative and we all should add to the green initiative to be able to leave a greener and safer earth for the upcoming generations, otherwise, they won’t be able to experience the world we have”, said Neelesh Ranade, General Manager Finance of TBK India.
Uday Deshmukh, the Director of Deshmukh Udyog said, “Global Warming is a threat and manufacturers should not live by profiting at the risk of harming the environment. Factories and manufacturers should instead pay attention to going green by starting with small initiatives such as the use of LED lamps, VFD, solar panels, rainwater harvesting, recycling & reusing, and many more similar methods. We need to stay positive and adopt green practices on the individual, company, and many more levels to enable the implementation of such initiatives.”
Rutu Biosis attracted special attention with their new innovation of converting men’s urinals to waterless and odourless without any CAPEX, without additional operating expenditure. Rutu Biosis is a biotech enterprise, specializing in the manufacture of sanitation, odour control, and waste management. They achieved their new innovation with the help of biological solutions which are all plant-based and biodegradable. They are working with a lot of manufacturers from the industry, IT sector, schools, colleges, public places, as well as government institutions to save thousands of litres of water. On average, one urinal can save 27000 litres of water annually and cut down carbon emissions by 66 kgs, making larger impacts in the process of preserving the environment.
C-Tech Engineers Private Limited was one of the companies which got audited during the Green Factory Initiative process. Reshma from the HR Department of C-Tech said, “We have started green practices very recently with managing e-waste, recycling of that. All the practices that have been mentioned in the MPCB certificate, we have initiated very recently and launched them. We have also gotten inspired by the people that have come here with their own initiatives.” Adding to it, Chirag Mutha from C-Tech Engineers said, “We are in the business of manufacturing precision machine components. We are grateful to Rotary Club Gandhi Bhavan, Pune for giving us this opportunity and look forward to participating next year as well. This has motivated us a lot to come back to this competition with more stuff that will help the climate.”
Keshav Tamhankar the Past President of the Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan, Pune ended the event with concluding remarks saying he is very happy that this event was successful. The type of response that this event and Project received was thrilling to see and would like to see many such initiatives. The Rotary Club of Gandhi Bhavan organised an exhibition during the event and is planning to organise this as an annual event. Machine Maker was the supporting media for this initiative.