Business
ITC goes beyond Plastic Neutrality in 2021-22, achieves yet another Sustainability Milestone
In line with the commitment made last year, diversified Indian conglomerate ITC has gone beyond plastic neutrality in 2021-22 through the orchestration of an integrated solid waste management programme that incorporates unique and multidimensional initiatives.
The Company collected and sustainably managed more than 54,000 tonnes of plastic waste across 35 states and union territories. The amount of plastic waste managed exceeded the amount of plastic packaging utilised by ITC during the year, enabling the company to achieve the milestone of plastic neutrality.
For more than a decade, the company has been running a holistic 360-degree solid waste management programme that is based on the principles of a circular economy and encompasses the entire waste value chain.
For a company with large-scale operations in FMCG and hospitality, going beyond plastic neutrality is a commendable feat to accomplish. The milestone is yet another reflection of ITC’s commitment to augmenting environmental and social capital, in line with Chairman Sanjiv Puri’s Sustainability 2.0 vision that calls for inclusive strategies that can support even more livelihoods and pursue newer pathways to fight climate change.
ITC has achieved this milestone by scaling up its portfolio of holistic initiatives focused on in-house innovation, robust waste management programmes centred around source segregation and sustainable business practices with mass impact.
“Over the decades, ITC has made industry leading efforts in end-to-end waste management. Through a large-scale and integrated solid waste management programme, ITC moved beyond plastic neutrality this year. In addition, the company is also using cutting-edge innovations to develop sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging for the industry.
“This milestone has been possible due to the untiring efforts of all our partners and I would take this opportunity to congratulate them for supporting Team ITC’s aspirations of contributing meaningfully to address some of the major sustainability challenges facing the country. The efforts to move beyond plastic neutrality and sustainable management of waste will continue apace in the years ahead as part of our Sustainability 2.0 agenda.” said Sanjiv Rangrass group head, ITC Life Sciences & Technology, Central Projects, EHS & Quality Assurance, ITC Ltd.
ITC has adopted a multi-pronged approach to reduce plastic in the company’s operations spanning Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Hotels, Paperboards and Packaging. This includes creating robust next-generation environment friendly packaging solutions, mega-scale waste collection programmes under its flagship waste management initiative ‘ITC WOW – Well-Being Out of Waste’ as well as focussed interventions in rural areas; a culture of plastic-free operations – in line with its philosophy of ‘Responsible Luxury’ to eliminate single-use plastic usage in ITC Hotels; and innovative models for sustainability which has plastic reduction and management at their core.
Within its operations, ITC has been recycling more than 99% of the waste for more than a decade.
ITC WOW, which enables the creation of a clean & green environment through community partnerships, has so far covered 18 million citizens across 46.7 lakh households in India. Currently operational in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, major towns of Telangana, Coimbatore, Chennai, Tirupur, Cochin, Muzaffarpur, Delhi and several districts of Andhra Pradesh, the initiative has raised awareness in over 52 lakh school children and 2,000 corporates since its inception. The initiative has also created sustainable livelihoods for over 16900 waste collectors by facilitating an effective collection system in collaboration with municipal corporations.
In addition to WOW, a separate ITC programme on Solid Waste Management (SWM), which deals with both wet and dry waste, is also operational in 17 districts of 9 states covering 14.6 lakh households.
Acknowledging the challenges with respect to disposal and recycling of multi-layered plastic, ITC has also pioneered a first of its kind sustainable and inclusive multi-layered plastic (MLP) management model in Pune.
The company’s targetted waste management initiatives not only ensure that lesser waste goes into landfills, but also enable larger value recovery from waste, thereby creating sustainable livelihoods for waste collectors, while creating additional income streams from collecting and sorting plastic waste. The company’s waste management programmes cover all categories of plastic waste, including flexibles, rigids and tetra packs.
Being India’s leading paperboards and specialty paper company, ITC has also introduced several sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging. Leveraging the cutting-edge R&D capabilities of ITC Life Sciences and Technology Centre (LSTC), Bengaluru, the Company has developed multiple sustainable packaging solutions for the industry, including the recyclable barrier board under the ‘Filo Series’ – an innovative substitute for single-use plastics in the food services segment, as well as the biodegradable ‘Omega Series’, launched as an alternative to plastic-coated containers and cups. Some of the other innovations by the Company include ‘Bioseal’ for replacement of polyethylene coating, ‘Oxyblock’ for improving barrier properties and recyclability, and the ‘Green Stiffner’ – a first of its kind compostable and recyclable solution.
In December last year, ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division (PSPD), also collaborated with the Invest India, a non-profit venture under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to launch the ‘ITC Sustainability Innovation Challenge’ which is aimed at supporting and crowd-sourcing innovative technology-based solutions from the start-up ecosystem on sustainable packaging and smart waste management.
Business
Adani Ports to start dedicated empty container yard operations at Mundra to boost efficiency

Ahmedabad, Sep 4: Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Friday said it is launching a dedicated Empty Container Yard (ECY) with integrated warehousing at Mundra, offering end-to-end services across the empty container lifecycle, including storage, maintenance, inspection, and seamless movement to exporters and CFSs (container freight stations).
As part of its ‘Ambition 2031’ roadmap, APSEZ is making significant investments to expand capacity across its network, with Mundra at the forefront of this growth.
India’s largest integrated transport operator plans to add more than 6 million TEUs of container handling capacity over the next five years, said the Adani Group company.
“The dedicated Empty Container Yard at Mundra, to be operated by APSEZ and/or partners (including CFS and shipping lines), will enhance efficiency across the container ecosystem by enabling faster turnaround times, reducing unnecessary container movements, and optimising logistics costs,” said Ashwani Gupta, Whole-time Director and Chief Executive Officer, APSEZ.
Strengthening trade-enabling infrastructure remains central to APSEZ’s commitment towards supporting India’s growth and the vision of Viksit Bharat, Gupta added.
Adani Ports commands a 45.5 per cent share of India’s container market as of FY26. Within this, Mundra Port alone handles nearly 35 per cent of the country’s container trade, making it India’s largest container-handling port.
The volume of empty containers handled at Mundra is estimated at around 1.6 million TEUs annually, underscoring its critical role in supporting India’s import-export supply chains, said the company.
Moreover, the initiative aligns with the government’s focus on developing efficient, technology-enabled logistics systems and improving ease of doing business.
Adani Ports operates a comprehensive ecosystem of 16 strategically located ports and terminals with a diversified marine fleet of 136 vessels and integrated logistics capabilities.
With a current cargo handling capacity of 653 million tonnes per annum, APSEZ commands approximately 27 per cent of India’s total port volumes, targeting 1 billion tonnes throughput by 2030.
Business
Sensex, Nifty post notable gains in early trade led by IT stocks

Mumbai, Sep 4: The Indian equity markets posted notable gains early on Friday driven by gains in IT stocks and positive data on the domestic economy.
Sensex added 515 points, or 0.68 per cent, in early trade to reach 76,668 and Nifty gained 51 points, or 0.22 per cent to reach 23,925.
Main broad-cap indices performed in line with the benchmark indices, as the Nifty Midcap 100 added 0.03 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.49 per cent.
Sectoral indices on NSE traded mixed with Nifty consumer durables posting the highest losses, down 0.50 per cent. Nifty IT was the top gainer, up 0.65 per cent, followed by realty, up 0.50 per cent.
“Rising bond yields are negative for equity markets. The US 10-year yield continues to hover around 4.8 percent. In Japan the 10-year yield is at a 30-year high of 3 per cent. In the UK, the 30-year yield is at 6 per cent. In India, too, the 10-year yield is close to 7 per cent,” an analyst said.
“However, these negative factors are being countered by the positive news about the Indian economy. Particularly impressive are the ongoing high frequency data regarding GST collections, automobile sales and credit growth,” the market expert added.
Brent crude remains elevated near $96–97, keeping geopolitical risks around the US–Iran conflict a key factor for market sentiment.
“Global sentiment has improved as Wall Street closed higher and Asian markets are largely positive, while US Treasury yields have eased,” an analyst said.
The immediate support for Nifty is placed at 23,800–23,850 zone, while resistance is seen at 24,050–24,100.
Immediate support is placed at 57,000–57,200 for Bank Nifty, while resistance is seen at 57,800–58,000, a market participant said.
In Asian markets, China’s Shanghai index gained 0.35 per cent, and Shenzhen added 0.27 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei added 1.14 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 2.09 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.31 per cent.
The US markets ended in green overnight as Nasdaq gained 1.4 per cent. The S&P 500 added 1.06 per cent, and the Dow Jones advanced 1.18 per cent.
On September 3, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold equities worth Rs 2,346 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 4,977 crore.
Business
Why Nvidia chief Jensen Huang is not ready to retire?

Chapel Hill (North Carolina), Sep 3: Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang says he does not need to keep working.
He simply cannot bear the thought of missing what artificial intelligence (AI) could deliver over the next decade.
“I’ve been working a long time and Surely I don’t have to work, but I don’t want to miss, I’m definitely not going to miss the next 10, 15 years,” Huang said during a fireside chat with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
For Huang, the appeal lies not only in the technology but also in the scale of the ambitions it has unleashed.
“The ambition of the industry, the ambition of my colleagues, my own ambition has really been supercharged,” he said.
Huang offered a buoyant vision of an AI-powered future in which work that once took a decade could be completed in a year, while year-long projects could be finished within a month.
“What do I expect in the next five, ten years? Things that take ten years are going to take one. Things that take one will take a month,” he added.
The Nvidia Chief said that artificial intelligence was giving ordinary people, companies and countries the ability to tackle problems on a scale previously considered unimaginable.
“It is now possible for average humans like ourselves to think that we can make an impact on a hundred trillion dollar industry,” Huang added.
He said that innovators were talking about adding between $20 trillion and $50 trillion in economic benefits worldwide.
Such ideas, he added, reflected a new level of ambition made possible by access to AI.
“No time in history have we been able to say things like that,” he said.
Huang encouraged countries to approach the technology with optimism and raise their ambitions rather than allow uncertainty to dominate the public conversation.
“This is the time when you have to feel enlightened, inspired, supercharged, lifted, because you now have this incredible technology behind you,” he said.
He compared the development of AI with earlier technological advances that initially appeared almost magical.
“Electricity once made it possible to turn on a light from far away, while modern cars and aircraft became safer as their technology improved.”
AI, Huang said, would similarly advance through engineering, mathematics, software and responsible development.
He rejected predictions that the technology would simply remove human workers.
AI would automate certain skills and tasks, he said, but people would retain the purpose, context and meaning that define their jobs.
Huang also described AI as a great equaliser because people could now communicate with computers through ordinary human language.
Lutnick picked up that theme, suggesting that the technology could place advanced knowledge within everyone’s reach.
“You now can have… A PhD in everything. That’s right. At your fingertips,” Lutnick said.
“You are that person now. Right? Everybody is that person now,” Huang responded.
Lutnick praised Huang’s optimistic assessment and called him “an American treasure”, saying Nvidia was leading the United States towards a future once confined largely to science fiction.
“Your company is leading us in a path that none of us, when we were young, ever dreamed possible,” the US Commerce Secretary said.
Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has served as its President and Chief Executive since its inception.
The company began as a specialist in graphics technology before its processors became vital to the development and operation of modern artificial intelligence systems.
Born in Taiwan, Huang moved to the United States as a child and studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and Stanford University.
Under his leadership, Nvidia has grown into one of the world’s most valuable technology companies.
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