Deepa Jayakumar,
VP Corporate Services, TAKE Solutions Limited
Vision
TAKE Solutions is committed to be a sustainable business enterprise that creates value for our customers, our investors, our employees, our partners, Society and the Environment.
In line with our business objectives, we have supported initiatives to impact society in a positive and sustainable manner. A key focus area is Preventive Healthcare, where we have created awareness on Diabetes & mental health and supported life sciences research and development. We promote Education by supporting after school learning in rural Tamil Nadu and Chennai and Ensuring Environmental Sustainability through campaigns and activities. This was followed by establishing partnerships to enable us to actively conserve our natural resources and better manage waste.
Our core values of Integrity, Differentiate, Boundary less Innovation, Vibrancy & Joy, and Equity with Fairness, all guide us along the path of sustainability. These values, along with our business objectives, drive us to be a socially responsible organization. Our CSR agenda revolves around a single vision of working together as an extended family and achieving greater heights. This produces an overall positive impact on our employees and their families as well as that of the local community and society at large.
Approach
We have commenced our water-body restoration initiative in 2013 to clean and restore water bodies in and around Chennai.
The aim is to restore and maintain the water bodies around Chennai in a scientific manner, to conserve the water table and provide a habitat for indigenous flora and fauna. TAKE partnered with the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) on this initiative. Our teams volunteer to clean the periphery of lakes that EFI scientifically restores. We also plant trees around the lake to restore indigenous flora in the area.
The actual process of cleaning is just that – we clean up the garbage from around the lake! We equip the team with gloves and masks and use rakes to lift up debris from the periphery of the lake. This debris is put into buckets and then moved to the corporation waste management facilities through garbage trucks. Over the years, we have raked up at least a million sachets, bottles, toothbrushes, shoes, and even backpacks that have been thrown into lakes instead of being disposed of properly. This process has made us very aware of how we contribute to the ever-increasing waste in the city, leading us to begin segregation and composting at our own facilities.
Over the years, we have sponsored the complete restoration of four water bodies and have participated in the cleaning and maintenance of over 10 lakes in and around Chennai. We have planted 1500+ trees and even painted walls with messages about environmental awareness. 300+ team members have participated in these activities, with many coming in regularly, month after month, year after year.
Challenges
The main challenge is the lack of awareness about waste management and environmental concerns. Our efforts are directed towards creating a better environment for them to live in, but we find that the next time we go back, the area we cleared is dirty once again. We work with EFI to raise awareness about these issues through street plays in the local language. This goes a long way in improving awareness.
Mediums to create awareness
We create awareness within our organization by conducting knowledge-sharing sessions, inviting guest speakers, and even through hands-on activities and contests. We also use the desktop background on each computer in our facility to share messages about the environment. Our team volunteers on a regular basis and we have created videos of volunteer testimonials to encourage greater participation.
Externally, we have worked to create educational videos, participated in street-plays, supported conferences and educational initiatives to raise awareness on key issues that impact our society.
