Hemaraj –25Years, We Promise a Sustainable Growth among all Stakeholders

“Corporate social responsibility is not just a management concept but a duty to be performed that has important social and environmental implications”. Over the past twenty years, the field of CSR has evolved to the point of becoming virtually synonymous with the protection and care of the environment, both on the company’s premises as well as the surrounding area.

As a leader in the real estate sector of Thailand, Hemaraj's Green CSR vision is to build environmental sustainability into each business function and process in every single one of its properties. Hemaraj’s innovative CSR activities and projects concerning the environment always have attracted the attention of many institutes and government agencies.

During an interview for Hemaraj Newsletter, Khun Rakphol Kangnoy, Director of Industrial Estate Operations for Hemaraj Land And Development Plc., provided an informative overview of the company’s Green CSR policy and talked about some important environmental issues that are on the front burner for Hemaraj regarding its numerous industrial estates and logistics parks.

Entrusted Green Policy

He initiated the conversation by stating that corporate social responsibility is not just a management concept but a duty to be performed that has important social and environmental implications. For him and his team the main goals of Hemaraj’s Green CSR activities are enshrined in the company’s environmental policy.

Hemaraj aims to

• comply fully with those environmental regulations,
• employ effective pollution prevention methods,
• protect the local environment and it natural resources,
• cut down on-site energy consumption,
• improve continuously the Green CSR activities and projects of Hemaraj so that sustainable development is ensured

 

Indeed, these missions have been entrusted to the company’s Safety, Health and Environment team (SHE), which is staffed by Khun Rakphol and 175 Hemaraj personnel located on seven industrial estates. An example of Hemaraj’s SHE unit in action is the annual beach cleaning exercise in Map Ta Phut area. It consistently involves the direct participation of the community, Hemaraj customers, and Hemaraj’s own management team and employees.

Khun Rakphol stressed that Hemaraj’s Green CSR policies strictly follow the environmental impact assessment (EIA) requirements as put forward by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP). Hemaraj has been engaged in CSR since more than a decade. In fact, the company is a recognized leader in the field here in Thailand and has been active in the promotion and implementation of Green CSR. Hemaraj’s Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate (Rayong) was chosen as one of the five ECO IE Pilot estates with best practice for water resource management in 2003.

With this in mind, Khun Rakphol proceeded to explain that Green CSR revolves primarily around minimizing the negative environmental impact of business practices. As Hemaraj deals with industrial land development one significant issue that the company must address is that of water supply. Hemaraj has invested its resources – human and financial – in the building and maintenance of water treatment plants that not only serve the industrial needs of Hemaraj’s on-site customers but also provide clean water to local communities during the drought season.

E:mc^2, the First Private Online Environmental Monitoring Unit

In association with the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, Hemaraj has established E:mc^2 as the first real-time environmental monitoring unit at private sector’s industrial estate. Located at Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate (Rayong), this unit offers real-time processing of environmental reports, with highly reliable and accountable methodology and transparency policy.

CONSTRUCTED WETLAND

Artificial wetlands, as one of Hemaraj’s proudest environmental project, were stemmed from the company’s observant application of King Rama IX’s wetlands project in 2002, which happens to be an integral component of His Majesty’s sufficiency economy. The creation of an constructed wetlands system involves the use of trees, plants, and bacteria to treat wastewater. What results is that the treated wastewater is clean enough to be recycled by factories for gardening purposes and reduces energy consumption.

Interestingly, the characteristics of a factory’s wastewater are studied in order to build a customized wetland that will serve the specific needs of a customer and to keep the environment clean. Up to date, there are 3 wetlands covering the area of 24 rai.

The Pioneer for Eco-Industrial Estate

Furthermore, in 2010, Hemaraj was honored to have its Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate (Rayong) selected by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to serve as the pioneer private industrial estate for demonstrating superior environmental management practices. Implementation is now under way.

Growing Green Strips

Over the past decade, Hemaraj executives and employees were joined with representatives from manufacturing companies, local authorities and community in planting over 39,500 trees along our seven industrial estates. The project followed HM the King’s initiative for environmental conservation and also aimed to increase green area and protection strip in the industrial estates.

Why is Green CSR Important to Hemaraj?

The question was posed to Khun Rakphol, why is Green CSR important to Hemaraj? And it was followed up with, how does Green CSR benefit Hemaraj? His responses were not surprising but insightful nonetheless. Khun Rakphol declared without reservation that Green CSR today is the right thing for business ventures that companies must demonstrate corporate citizenship, and that looking after the environment benefits everyone.

Additionally, Green CSR is connected with safeguarding the health of workers, site visitors and local residents alike. Green CSR obligates the company to practice greater transparency and accountability in the manner it conducts its affairs. And yet, one of the positive side-effects in the implementation of Green CSR is that community members are taken more into account for they are ultimately stakeholders as well.

In the end, as indicated by Khun Rakphol, Hemaraj’s Green CSR approach is about partnership and coordination amongst a number of groups, like the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, the Federation of Thai Industries, municipal and provincial administrative agencies, law enforcement, and village elders. Actually, Hemaraj has set up an impressive organization known as ESEC – EIE Safety and Environmental Club – that counts 43 companies at the Eastern Industrial Estate ( Map Tha Phut) as members. It can be said that Hemaraj through its various Green CSR activities and projects has built strong relations with neighboring communities, corporate customers, and government offices that are meant to last.

Remarks: The article was written for Hemaraj Newsletter September 2013 Vol. 29 No. 2.