SUBMITTED BY

REETESH AGARWAL
BITOPAN NATH
AVINASH KUMAR SWAIN
TANUSHREE SAHA.
The paper and
pulp industry represen
ts one of the
largest manufacturIng
sectors in India. It
provides essential
products such as
paper, paperboard and
insulation to
businesses and
individuals around the
world.
Other than the
emission of harmful
gases in the
atmosphere, paper
industry while
producing paper,
created
deforestation.This
case study examines
the ways in which
Seshasayee Paper and
Boards Ltd solved the
problem of
deforestation. All
these are discussed in
detail.
The project is
remarkable in that the
value added to crop
yields is bought back
by Seshasayee and
used directly in the
paper-making process.
The farmer’s
livelihoods have been
secured and improved
while damage to the
environment is vastly
reduced.
Seshasayee Paper and Boards Limited (SPB), an
integrated pulp and paper mill, was founded in 1960.
It is located near Erode in Tamil Nadu state, India.
Capacity has expanded from 20,000 tonnes of paper
per annum in the 1960s to over 115,000 tonnes per
annum at present. Products include posters, paper
boards, packaging and copier paper.

Approximately 20 per cent of SPB products are made

for the export market. Annual turnover is about Rs.
3,500 million, and the company employs 1,600
people. Equipment takes the form of five paper
machines, power boilers, turbo-generators, a water
treatment plant and an effluent treatment system.
Other than the emission
of harmful gases in the
atmosphere, paper
industry while producing
paper, created
deforestation., though
they are ordered as per
government regulations
to plant trees same as the
numbers they cut them..
This brought it into
regular conflict with the
government, i.e. the
environmental protection
agency and a host of
individual groups.
SPB engaged Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University
to conduct a study of
similar projects before
undertaking the project
themselves. The report,
entitled ‘Studies on the
effect of paper and
sugar factory effluents
on soil microflora and
agricultural cropping
system’ yielded
promising results and
played a large part in
planning details of the
SPB project.
Between 1985 and 1990, the Salem district
collector, Mr S. R. Karuppannan, played an
important part in introducing and coordinating
the different parties that could implement a
project of this scale and sort. He helped bring
together SPB, farmers’ representatives and
revenue authorities. Once a detailed plan had
been drawn, the National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development agreed to finance the
project, and the first agreement between SPB,
Ponni Sugars and the Farmers’ Cooperative
Society was signed for a period of ten years from
1992. This tri-partite agreement was renewed in
2002.
The area surrounding the SPB plants and mills in
Tamil Nadu is barren and uncultivable. Land is
largely dependent upon seasonal monsoons for
irrigation, making farming unpredictable and
livelihoods relatively unsustainable.
In line with SPB’s environmental and social policy,
the company initiated the utilisation of treated
industrial effluent as a means of irrigation. SPB had
been treating mill effluent since 1978.
SPB extracts bagasse from the sugarcane which it
uses in the manufacturing of paper, hence the
sugarcane production. This results in less
deforestation as the factory is reliant upon more
renewable and sustainable resources other than
wood.
The project itself aimed at all times to
enhance business-community relations. It has
done this through farmer participation,
community development, research and
technical innovation and by working in
partnerships.
SPB generates filter cake and waste oil, both of
which are categorised as hazardous wastes. Measures
have been taken to reduce these by-products in the
production process.
The entire quantity of filter cake is disposed off
through its usage as a raw material to the board-
making units.
Waste oil generated in the mill can also be used as a
lubricant in chains and conveyors. The excess, if any,
is currently incinerated in the power boilers.
Other solid (potentially hazardous) wastes from the
production process include lime sludge, cinder, fly
ash, sawdust and pith. Of this, lime sludge is sold to
cement industries and used as a raw material.
Cinder and fly ash are innovatively used for
manufacturing compressed bricks and hollow blocks
within the mill. Sawdust and pith are burnt as fuel in
the power boilers.
• SPB provided training to farmers on the
benefits and practicalities of using treated
paper mill effluent for the irrigation of their
sugarcane crops.
• Technical guidance on crop rotation, soil
and pest management and yield
improvement was given to local farmers.
• “Redressal” meetings are held with the
farmers periodically
• A drinking water pipeline network was
installed in neighbouring villages.
• Old village temples were renovated and
burial ghats repaired.
• Roads and public toilets were constructed
and street lighting provided.
• Community Healthcare Centres were
established.
• The project
represented the
industrial marriage
between the sugar
and the paper
industries.
• Government
authorities were
involved in the
promotion and
implementation
procedures.
SPB’s own research department have
investigated the impact of using treated
effluent for irrigation on the environment.
They found that using bagasse instead of
wood for making paper saves approximately
3.7 tonnes of wood per six tonnes of bagasse.
It has also been proven that treated paper
mill effluent percolating from the fields,
after being used for irrigation, is void of
colour and rich in dissolved oxygen.
The irrigation scheme has proved successful on many levels.
These are detailed below;
• Agricultural outcomes – The yield of sugarcane is now
approximately 10-15 per cent higher in the fields irrigated with
the treated effluent compared to freshwater irrigated fields.
• Environmental outcomes – The organic matter present in the
mill effluent promotes granular structure which permits soil to
hold more of both water and air.
• Social outcomes – Farmers standards of living can be said to
be improving. This is as a result of the added value they reap
from their land and increased agricultural income and the
profitable sugarcane market.
Investment in community infrastructure has also served to
enhance business-community relations, and offering technical
guidance has improved skills and contributed to knowledge
sustainability.
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