Compared to other industrialized economies, Russia is only now beginning to develop green strategies for business. Led by large international corporations, Russian businesses have begun to realize the necessity of maintaining ecological standards and developing technologies that reduce the harmful influence of manufacturing on the environment. To address these issues and more, a conference dedicated to ecologically responsible business was held in Moscow by the St. Petersburg Ecological Union at the end of 2013.
According to a report by the Russian government from 2011 about the state of the country’s environment, 58 percent of cities suffer from high or very high levels of air pollution. 55.1 million people, or 53 percent of the total population of Russia, are affected.
To address this potentially catastrophic situation, a number of large companies have begun to introduce programs that support environmental conservation. The first area of attention is the reduction of waste. In 2013, Coca Cola and the World Wildlife Foundation announced a joint initiative consisting of ten energy-saving principals. As a result of the program, Coca Cola expects to reduce its influence on the climate by 49 percent in Novosibirsk and 40 percent in Krasnoyarsk compared to emissions from 2004, according to the company.
“This achievement is significant. It will have a positive influence on the activity of Coca Cola Hellenic in Russia and on the condition of the whole planet by bringing the standards of efficient climate protection to a new level,” said Matthew Banks, Senior Manager of the WWF’s Business and Climate program.
In addition to being environmentally friendly, the program also offers companies significant savings.
Baltika Breweries seeks to reduce its impact on the environment by producing and using alternative fuel sources at its sites in Khabarovsk, Samara and Yaroslavl. Another of the company’s ecological initiatives is water purification. The company already has water treatment facilities at its breweries and plans to build new ones by 2017.
Baltika uses Denmark as a model for its recycling policy since the Scandinavian country collects and recycles almost 100 percent of its bottles. Annually, Baltika reuses millions of returnable glass bottles in production. The manufacture of new glass bottles requires a high amount of energy, leading to increased CO2 emissions.
Reusing and recycling bottles reduces these emissions. In 2013 Baltika launched the pilot project “Make a Difference to Your City,” aimed at creating a separate waste collection system. The project has been developed in cooperation with the company’s partners — glass bottle manufacturers. The project is underway in 11 Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, where glass bottle bins and buy-back centers have been installed. On the premises, the company has installed special points for the separate collection of packing waste…..
Source: The St. Petersburg Times