Circularity as Part of the Solution
IOI Group’s waste management plan and strategies are guided by the IOI Environmental Management Guidelines. Effluent management is a crucial element to ensure continuous compliance with national legislation and is also part of our CCAI strategy to reduce GHG emissions from palm oil mill effluent (POME). POME and palm oil refinery effluent ("PORE") generated from the production and refining of palm oil, must be treated in accordance with local environmental regulations. In addition to pollution prevention measures, operating units are required to capture and remove the GHGs generated from the POME as part of our strategy to achieve our net zero target.
Scheduled waste is routinely audited during RSPO, MSPO, and OHSAS audits. Internally, the Safety, Health, and Sustainability teams also conduct routine inspections to ensure compliance with the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 in Malaysia and comparable regulations in the countries where we operate.
Operating units have pollution prevention plans in place, specifically for securing scheduled waste such as solid and liquid waste, spent hydraulic and lubricant oil, and used chemical containers. These wastes are stored appropriately and disposed of through a licensed agent approved by the local environmental authority at regular intervals, as required by regulation.
Transparency in tracking and declaring waste generated is demonstrated through reporting on the DOE portal, the Electronic Scheduled Waste Information System ("eSWIS"). Several dedicated assistants at the operating units have also undergone Certified Environmental Professional in Scheduled Waste Management ("CEPSWAM") training, becoming competent persons certified by the DOE in waste management.
For non-hazardous waste or by products, we always encourage maximising the 7Rs of Circularity concept to minimise waste entering landfills or increase value-added use.
Waste Management Implementations
Plantation
The practice of 7Rs to manage our waste resulted in a recycling rate of 98% of non-hazardous waste which is marginally higher than the 97% of FY2023. The main non-hazardous waste generated in the plantation are largely biomass in nature, for example oil palm trunk (OPT), palm kernel shell (PKS), empty fruit bunch (EFB), fronds, POME residues, etc.
While they are largely used as organic fertiliser and energy source in the estates, we have also found higher value-added use for them, like the following:
- Utilisation of OPT to produce a higher value-added product like Palm Wood panels.
- Nextgreen IOI Pulp has the capacity to produce 150,000 MT per annum of paper pulp from EFB.
- Revenue generation by selling biomass such as PKS that can be used as activated carbon in the filtration process.
- Waste products from our operations such as Spent Bleaching Earth (SBE) and Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) are sold for biodiesel production, while boiler ash is also sold to be used in fertiliser production.
