Lindström India, a 100% subsidiary of Finnish Lindström Oy, is a global leader in sustainable workwear and cleanroom services. The company is known for its commitment to responsible water management and environmental stewardship, particularly in the textile and fabric industry. Lindström India's groundbreaking Aquaest water recycling project at its Chennai laundry facility has set a new standard for water conservation, reducing freshwater usage by 56%.
Additionally, Lindström India supports the UNICEF WASH program, working to tackle water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges in India. The company also embraces a circular economy approach, aiming to reduce overproduction of textiles by keeping them in use for longer and producing new pieces only when needed.
In this interview, we speak with Mr. Jayant Roy, Managing Director, Lindström India, to explore the company's journey towards sustainable water management and broader environmental goals. Mr. Roy discusses the success of the Aquaest project, the company's partnership with UNICEF's WASH program, and the challenges and key lessons learned along the way. Join us as we delve into Lindström India's inspiring initiatives and its ongoing pursuit of industry-wide sustainable practices.
Read the full interview below.
Q&A
Q. How will Lindström India utilize the success of the Aquaest project to innovate water conservation strategies across sectors especially in water-stressed regions, ensuring scalable implementation across its facilities in India and Asia? Can you provide case studies demonstrating successful scaling efforts?
A. Lindström India has leveraged the success of the Aquaest project to innovate water conservation strategies across various sectors, especially in water-stressed regions, ensuring scalable implementation across its facilities in India and Asia.
The following case studies demonstrate successful scaling efforts:
Case Study 1: Implementation in Textile Industry
Lindström India successfully implemented the Aquaest project in collaboration with textile industry partners, showcasing a significant reduction in water usage while maintaining high-quality textile washing standards. The project's success has set a benchmark for water conservation strategies within the textile industry.
Case Study 2: Adoption in Hospitality Sector
Lindström India extended the Aquaest project's principles to the hospitality sector, where it facilitated the implementation of water-efficient laundry practices, leading to substantial water savings across a network of hotel partners.
Q. Lindström India has reduced water usage by 50% per washed textile kilograms since the 1990s. What innovative strategies or technologies have contributed most to achieving this milestone? Additionally, what challenges were faced, and what key lessons were learned from addressing them?
A. Lindström India's achievement of reducing water usage by 50% per washed textile kilograms since the 1990s can be attributed to several innovative strategies and technologies:
★ Implementation of advanced water recycling systems and closed-loop water management processes.
★ Adoption of high-efficiency washing machines and eco-friendly detergents to minimize water consumption during textile washing.
★ Integration of smart monitoring and control systems to optimize water usage across laundry facilities.
Challenges and Key Lessons: Lindström India faced challenges related to initial capital investment, technological integration, and operational adaptability. However, by addressing these challenges, Lindström India learned valuable lessons in the importance of stakeholder engagement, continuous innovation, and adaptability to local water conservation regulations and practices.
Q. In what ways does Lindström India collaborate with local communities and stakeholders to address broader water management challenges beyond its own operations?
A. Lindström India actively collaborates with local communities and stakeholders to address broader water management challenges beyond its own operations.
Community Engagement Initiatives: Collaborative water conservation workshops and training programs for local communities to promote sustainable water usage practices.
Participation in local water conservation and management committees to contribute expertise and resources for community-level water sustainability initiatives.
Partnership with local educational institutions to raise awareness about water conservation and sustainable practices.
Q. Considering the significant impact of the UNICEF WASH program, how does Lindström India measure and evaluate the social outcomes and long-term benefits of its collaboration with UNICEF, and how can these insights inform future partnerships and initiatives?
A. Lindström India measures and evaluates the social outcomes and long-term benefits of its collaboration with the UNICEF WASH program through comprehensive impact assessments and performance metrics.
Measuring Social Outcomes:
★ Quantitative assessment of the program's impact on improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities within targeted communities.
★Qualitative evaluation of the program's influence on community empowerment, health outcomes, and educational opportunities.
Informed Future Partnerships and Initiatives:
Insights from the collaboration with UNICEF inform Lindström India's future partnerships and initiatives by providing valuable data-driven evidence of positive social impact, guiding the development of similar sustainable collaborations and philanthropic endeavors.
One notable success of the UNICEF WASH programme took place in Sagwada, Rajasthan, where excessive fluoride in drinking water posed a serious health threat. Symptoms ranged from mild teeth discolouration to severe damage to the body and bones, with children being the most affected. To address this issue, UNICEF and its partners implemented the Integrated Fluorosis Mitigation (IFM) approach. It involved empowering the community through education, providing nutritional support to combat fluorosis, and ensuring a safe water supply. UNICEF's collaboration with state and local partners in Sagwada ensured a safer environment for every child in Sagwada.
Q. Beyond water conservation, can Lindström India's Aquaest project inspire life cycle assessments (LCAs) for textile rental services to comprehensively evaluate environmental impact across the entire production chain?
A. Lindström’s entire business model is based on circular economy, so sustainability has been part of our operations for several decades. It is also essential part of our purpose and strategy.
Our business model encourages to reduce overproduction of textiles by keeping the textiles long in use, and producing new pieces only when needed. For example, every year we repair over 4.5 million pieces of textiles and extend their lifespan. Our business model also encourages to conserve natural resources, and we have a long history in optimising water, energy and detergent usage in our laundries, and loads and routes of our deliveries.
Q. How will Lindström India leverage technology, including AI-driven analytics platforms and open-source data platforms, to enhance water recycling efficiency, sustainability initiatives, and facilitate collaborative industry-wide sustainable water management in textiles?
A. Each of the company’s garments is equipped with an automatic remote tracking tag, which allows it to easily track the usage of the garment and their wash cycles. The company has been using remote identification for a long time in its laundries. The next step is to take advantage of the new generation remote tags at its customers’ premises, which will make their everyday lives easier. This information will also help us design and select wash Programs based on user application area, thereby optimising the wash Programs and reducing the water usage.
Q. As India faces increasing water scarcity challenges, how does Lindström India envision its role in advocating for broader policy changes and industry-wide adoption of sustainable water management practices?
A. We will focus on social sustainability across the value chain and are committed to exploring opportunities to further optimise our water usage.
Lindström India envisions its role in advocating for broader policy changes and industry-wide adoption of sustainable water management practices by actively engaging in sustainable water management initiatives, focusing on reducing water consumption through its industrial washing process. The company collaborates with UNICEF's WASH program to address water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges in India, demonstrating a commitment to supporting broader policy changes and industry-wide adoption of sustainable water management practices.
Q. Beyond water recycling, what other sustainability initiatives is Lindström India exploring to further reduce its environmental footprint and promote circularity within the textile industry?
A. Lindström is among the 3350 companies with targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, and among the 380+ companies globally with net-zero targets approved. Our targets to halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 were approved this year which means that we are globally among the first companies in the textile industry with approved near and long-term targets. We have three focus areas how we will reach the target. In terms of textiles, we will increase the recycled and biobased materials in our textiles, encourage our suppliers to set climate targets for the reduction of emissions, manufacturing textiles closer to customers, and developing new IT capabilities for better planning and optimisation. In terms of our laundries, we will continue the optimise the laundry process and switch to renewable electricity and energy sources.
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