Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India: HCCB (Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd) – one of India’s largest FMCG companies – today announced that the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has awarded the Gold certificate to its newest factory at Sanand, Gujarat. The factory - a fully digital and world-class facility, became operational in mid-2018. The Sanand factory is only 1 of 9 Gold certified Green Buildings (Factories) amongst the FMCG / Food industrial facilities in India. It is also the only factory run by HCCB, which employs more than 40% women.
 
Green buildings are defined as “one which uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste, and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to conventional buildings”.
 
The Gold certification to the Sanand factory is based on an assessment of the site in the categories of sustainable site, water conservation, energy conservation, indoor environmental quality, material conservation and innovation. 
 
Initiatives such as prevention of soil erosion, group transportation and shuttle services, on-site solar power generation & effective usage, rainwater harvesting, re-use of wastewater, vehicle charging facility, and several others, have been undertaken at Sanand to develop it into a green site. 
 
Commenting on the recognition, Dinesh Jadhav, Executive Director, Supply Chain, HCCB, said, “We are certainly happy that our factory in Sanand gets into the list of a handful of facilities, which are recognized green! Being a Greenfield site, there was opportunity for us to be very diligent about building this factory. We kept sustainability and environmental resource minimization at the very core of factory design. There is more work happening at this factory and this recognition will only encourage us to hasten the ‘green’ work.”
 
Some of the initiatives that HCCB undertook at Sanand factory, right from the beginning, are:

1. Soil erosion prevention and controls, maintained during the project phase.
2. Landscaping in excess of 20% at the site
3. Charging points for 4-wheelers and 2-wheelers provided in the parking area to promote use of electric vehicles
4. Water conservation system for harvesting and storage of rainwater
5. Two rainwater-harvesting ponds of 900 cum/each and percolation wells to capture 1683 cum. of water
6. Low flow water fixtures in all washrooms 
7. Only 14.3% of turf lawn in the factory, to minimize the water usage
8. 100% treatment of non-process wastewater generated
9. Maximising usage of LED fixtures
10. Use of solar tubes to bring in more sunlight deeper into plant areas, thereby reducing electrical loads during the day
11. Installation of 101 KW solar PV at the parking area. Installation of 897 KW Rooftop solar PV is now being undertaken
12. Creation of driver management centre including training of drivers and rest areas for comfort with well-designed wash facilities
13. Shuttle services for employees