The country’s pulp and paper
industry will require an investment of around Rs 6,000 crore over the next two years to
switch to a chlorine-free bleaching technology.
In line with the Rio Convention and the
Montreal protocol, the Indian paper industry was required to eliminate the use of chlorine
in bleaching of paper pulp by 2002. But following a recent dialogue with the ministry for
environment and forests, the industry managed to get the deadline deferred to December
2005.
The largest contributor to pollution in
paper manufacturing is the pulp bleaching process. The conventional bleaching process uses
chlorine gas, which generates carcinogenic pollutants known as dioxins. In the new
technology, nascent oxygen replaces chlorine as the bleaching agent.
Of the big players, only ITC has completely
switched to the chlorine-free bleaching process. The company has invested Rs 227 crore at
its Bhadrachalam plant to adopt the new technology. "The others are in the process of
switching over," a source said.
Many of the user industries too are in the
process of switching over to chlorine-free paper. Companies like Amul and Tetrapak, and
ice cream manufacturers like Dinshaws and Vadilal, are already using chlorine-free paper
for their packaging. "FMCG majors like HLL, P&G and Godrej are also expected to
do so this year," a source said, adding that pharmaceutical firms were among the
first to switch to chlorine-free paper.
The annual paperboard requirement of the
domestic packaging industry is nine lakh tonne, of which ITC produces two lakh tonne. The
other players, including Ballarpur Industries, West Coast and JK Paper, make about 6.5
lakh tonne while the remaining 50,000 tonne is imported.
