JK Tyre to sharpen focus on sustainable manufacturing

JK Tyre’s plant in Chennai is fitted with solar panels.

JK Tyre & Industries, which aims to reduce its carbon footprint across every facet of its global business, is sharpening its focus on green manufacturing in India.

The company has increased its use of green and clean energy, resulting in the reduction of greenhouse gases and dependence on fossil fuels. It has installed solar panels in its manufacturing units across Rajasthan, Mysore, Chennai, and Gwalior to harvest 14.7MWp of energy organically.

Another ecological support initiative was replacing coal with other renewable resources such as biomass, and development of alternate green coal by planting more than 25,000 bamboo trees. To reduce the greenhouse emissions further, the tyre maker procured wind power for its Chennai and Mysore plants to achieve a level of 55% of renewable power contribution in its total demand. These efforts helped JK Tyre reduce its carbon emission intensity by 53% in the past seven years and increase renewables in its power mix to 55%, to annually increase by 2-5%.

The Kankroli plant. 

Now, JK Tyre aims to substitute thermal energy with renewable sources and has already started working in the direction. Substitution of coal with biomass is one of the major steps taken in this regard, and the company is committed to increasing its contribution by more than 20% by the end of the current fiscal.

Water conservation efforts
With an increased focus on water efficiency, JK Tyre says it has been setting new benchmarks in water conservation practices including harvesting pits, trenching, de-silting. In 2019, it became the first Indian tyre manufacturer to participate in the CDP Water Security.

The company reduced water consumption at the Kankroli Plant to 1.25 litre/kg and set a global benchmark for the lowest water use per kg of tyre manufactured.These efforts towards earned JK Tyre the CII National Water Award in December 2020.

Meanwhile, the company has developed a robust integrated waste management system at all five plants and aims to reduce the quantum of waste being directed to landfills by 2-5% every year over the next 10 years.

Commenting on the company’s environment sustainability efforts, Anil Makkar, Manufacturing Director, JK Tyre & Industries said, “We at JK Tyre have always strived to achieve the quality benchmark for all our industry-leading and best-in-class manufacturing practices. Sustainability essentially has three foundations – Social, Economic and Environment, the Company’s initiatives on all three fronts are unprecedented and they aspire to succeed with every passing day.’