The Challenge

The textile industry is a substantial contributor to the environmental footprint of the economies in Asia – from cotton cultivating to wet processes to transport. The production of chemical fibers in particular has several environmental impacts including the utilization of non-renewable resources, emissions from process heat and transport as well as waste generated in the operations.

The Initiative

In 2016 Jinan Shengquan initiated a project in its operations to improve the management of hazardous waste and to reduce its environmental impact. The new management system, which is described in the factory’s internal policies, ranges from the generation, collection and storage to the transfer and disposal of hazardous waste. Every step is managed by Jinan Shengquan to exert the highest possible control.

For each waste-stream of the process, a management account is established. It contains details like dates and places, responsible persons, handovers and management of hazardous waste. To reduce the environmental impact while storing the hazardous waste, Jinan Shengquan introduced three designated storage areas – in total 2670 square meters. In these areas, Jinan Shengquan conducted several safety measures; a cofferdam, a diversion channel, a collecting pool and diversion pumps were installed, as well as a system to collect the waste gas.

The hazardous waste warehouses are equipped with safety information and instructions on the nature, generation and disposal flow of hazardous waste. The warehouses are managed by assigned persons who have received specialized trainings. Besides that, other employees receive trainings in order to raise awareness for the protection of the environment.

All hazardous waste is transferred by using specialized containers or pipelines depending on type and hazardous nature. During the transport, the dynamic flow of the hazardous waste from export location to import location is controlled and systematically tracked. A long-term supervision mechanism was introduced to safeguard the permanent and continuous implementation.

The Benefit

To ensure legally compliant disposal of the increasing amount of hazardous waste, Jinan Shengquan built its own waste incinerators, thus becoming independent of public disposal capacities in its province. The introduced waste management measures contributed to the company’s successful development as follows:  

- The quantity of hazardous waste in relation to the quantity of production has been reduced by 13 percent per year

- Management capital and disposal costs have been saved by 15 percent per year

- The cost per product have been reduced by 0.015 percent through the efficient hazardous waste management system

The company’s overall competitiveness has increased through higher profit margins and its image as a sustainable company that is perceived as successful in the market.

For more information about the case, please refer to the attachment.