The environment is a fundamental aspect of Our Mission, Company Policy, Core Values, Code of Conduct, and CSR commitments. UPG P&C operates under an Integrated Management System (IMS) that includes the ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System (EMS). Since adopting ISO 14001 EMS in 2008, the company has been consistently enhancing its environmental performance by analyzing, setting, implementing, and evaluating annual environmental objectives and targets. In 2018, UPG P&C received the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award 2018, for its two environmentally friendly and energy saving products.
In November 2023, we launched a renewal energy project called ‘Solar System Project’ at our factory, aiming to integrate renewable energy into our operations. The primary objectives of this project are to reduce our carbon footprint by decreasing both direct and indirect CO2 emissions, reduce the use of biofuels in our own power generation, promote the use of sustainable energy sources, minimize the environmental impact of our activities, and enhance environmental awareness among our stakeholders. The project involves the installation of solar panels with a generation capacity of 359.1 kW DC/ 300 kW AC.
UPG Paint Factory generate both non-hazardous wastes and hazardous wastes.
These wastes include sediment from effluent tank, sludge from effluent treatment plant, scrap timber and saw dust, paper products and packaging materials, scrap metals (excluding lead), wooden pallets, kitchen and garden wastes, human excretion, and other inert wastes.
The wastes will include paint chemicals, laboratory chemicals, hydrocarbon wastes, paint solvents, spent batteries, asbestos and fiber glass, photocopier and printer ink, plastics, tiers, and other inert wastes.
UPG employs the 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) strategy for waste management. The following wastes are reduced or reused. – Paper products and packaging materials, scrap metals, batteries, plastics, and tires. The plastic and paper wastes are recycling materials in Myanmar and are sold out to our contracted recyclers.
The hazardous wastes generated from the production of solvent-based paints, as well as those from the QC and R&D laboratories are collected in drums and stored at the scheduled waste storage area. Subsequently, they are disposed of in the Yangon City Development Council – YCDC’s designated landfill, following the IMS procedure outlined in the UP-CM07 Waste Management Manual.
In 2023, our waste reduction targets were intensity based. These targets were verified by our internal Objectives and Target Initiative Team, which comprises a diverse group of internal experts led by the General Manager. The targets were: (1) To maintain effluent discharge quality with BOD ≤ 50 mg/l and COD ≤ 250 mg/l. We successfully achieved this target. (2) To reduce the volume of effluent discharged from our water-based paint plant to ≤ 11 m³ per 100 MT of production. This target was also achieved. (3) To reduce the volume of hazardous waste generated from our solvent-based paint plant to ≤ 20 kg per 100 MT of production. We met this target as well.
These progress reports are also submitted annually to the UNGC through UNGC CoP reports and Myanmar Responsible Care Council (MRCC), which then includes them in the country’s annual report to the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA).
| Year | Non-Hazardous Waste (MT) | Hazardous Waste (MT) | Total Waste (MT) | Hazardous Waste % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | 122.94 | 13.66 | 136.6 | 10% |
2023 | 105.33 | 12.4 | 117.73 | 117.73 |
UPG installed its own wastewater treatment plant at the factory to pretreat effluents. The details of the UPG’s wastewater treatment plant are as follows.
UPG is committed to minimizing single-use plastic within its operations. While we do not intentionally use single-use plastic, any unintentional usage is kept to a minimum. UPG is actively investigating our practices to identify and further reduce the usage of single-use plastic.
In 2023, we withdrew and consumed groundwater for our production and miscellaneous needs, sourced from our own well-reservoir on the outskirts of Yangon. In 2023, we fully consumed all the withdrawn water. We did not engage in withdrawing and consuming other types of water. We do not operate our production at water stress areas.
| Year | Ground Water (Megaliter) | Third-Party Water (Megaliter) | Total Water (Megaliter) |
|---|---|---|---|
2022 | 15.66 | 0.34 | 16.01 |
2023 | 13.89 | - | 13.89 |
UPG Paint Factory has potential sources of air pollution primarily include certain particulate matters, chemicals, solvent, as well as emissions from electricity generators, and vehicles. The factory is implementing emission control measures as follows.
We measured the direct CO2 emissions from our factory, which were generated by our own generators during the blackouts. In 2023, the direct CO2 emissions from internal electricity generation at UPG’s factory amounted to 212 metric tons. The indirect CO2 emissions, based on our factory’s electricity consumption from the government supply in 2023, indirect CO2 emissions from the government electricity supply at UPG’s factory in 2023 were 594 metric tons.
| Year | Description | Metric Ton |
|---|---|---|
2023 | Direct CO2 Emissions (From Own Generation) | 212 |
Indirect CO2 Emissions (From Government Supply) | 594 |
No. 237, Pyay Road, Shin Saw Pu Ward, Sanchaung Township, Yangon, Myanmar.
