PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk’s (CAP) efforts in preventing and eliminating negative effects from its operations by reducing its carbon footprint and its impact on climate change, increasing conservation efforts and improving the circular economy, make the corporation a true Sustainability winner.
This is why the ACES Awards jury panel awarded the company with the Top Community Care Companies in Asia award in 2019.
Established in 1984, Indonesia’s largest integrated petrochemical company produces synthetic polymers for high-value added applications. CAP firmly believes that its growth cannot happen at the expense of the environment.
Hence, the company is committed to sustainability to minimise the effects of its products on the environment. CAP has established an overarching Sustainability Pillar that comprises three sub-pillars: People, Planet and Profit.
The company’s People pillar provides the company direction towards investment in training to help surrounding communities to improve their standard of living.
The People pillar also includes the company’s focus on developing its employees, which goes hand in hand with the development of its surrounding communities.
The company achieves this through three key areas: safety and health awareness, education, and equipping the community to increase their economic potential.
Over the past years, CAP has provided annual scholarships to gifted bachelor’s degree students, and children of employees, at various Universities and Polytechnic Institutes. In addition, CAP provides subsistence to toddlers of the surrounding community through monthly food supplies via the Pemberian Makanan Tambahan programme.
The company has sponsored the training of the bamboo craftsmen in its neighbouring community, equipping them with new skills to produce synthetic rattan crafts and furniture made of polyethylene, one of CAP’s products.
Although already skilled and accustomed to weaving bamboo, this additional training helps them produce higher value products, thereby increasing their income capacity. CAP also invests intensively in Social and Environment initiatives. The company met the needs of its neighbouring community by re-building the Kadu Meringis Bridge and the Kampung Kadu Meringis bridge in Serang.
The Planet pillar embodies the company’s commitment towards environmental sustainability. CAP has taken active steps towards recycling and reducing the impact of plastics in the environment by pioneering the creation of asphalt roads with the use of two million waste plastic bags. The benefits can be measured in the increased stability and durability of the asphalt and the reduction of plastic waste that goes into ocean.
CAP also plays a pivotal role at leading the Indonesia Partnership for Plastic Waste Management (IP2WM), a national multi-stakeholder coalition of plastic suppliers, to champion the efforts of reducing marine plastic debris and providing long-term solutions to plastic waste management.
In the area of community health and sanitation, CAP has collaborated in waste management by spearheading Management Sampah Zero (Masaro) to encourage surrounding communities to sort their waste for recycling, and to promote the resale of liquid fertiliser and livestock feed. Furthermore, CAP has kick-started a community-based waste management in Cilegon city, targeting 1,500 households, to achieve zero-waste to landfill.
The company’s third pillar, Profit, focuses on managing customer service, support and complaints, including customers’ safety and health, as well as public education related to plastics. The focus areas under this pillar are the customer, and public education.
The company’s CSR budget is allocated based on factual needs assessment in the beneficiary communities, which is then included within the organisation’s set of priorities on an annual basis.
While the CSR budget is not set against the company’s revenue, CAP believes that giving back to the community is of paramount importance, and has, in the last three years, increased CSR spending to cover areas such as community education and health and sanitation.
Originally published in The Business Times (Oct 08, 2019)
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/hub/aces-awards-2019/fuelled-by-responsibility
