Mitigating Environmental Impact of Sand Mining through Green Supply Chain Strategies

This research delves into the intersection of sand mining, manufacturing practices and environmental management, with a focus on the Narmada basin, a region heavily impacted by sand mining activities. Through semi-structured interviews with diverse companies, we analyze production and environmental practices in manufacturing sector. Categorizing practices by industry sector, size and environmental engagement, we assess environmental management in sand mining-affected areas. Our study underscores that despite economic benefits, advanced sand and sand product manufacturers often lack proactive environmental management strategies through GSCM. We advocate for greater integration of environmental concerns into manufacturing strategies to promote eco-friendly practices. Furthermore, we emphasize the urgent need for new estimation methodologies and unified reporting metrics to align performance measures with environmental goals. The development of quantitative methods linking environmental practices to manufacturing performance is imperative. Additionally, we highlight the importance of government regulations, monitoring and enforcement in mitigating the environmental impacts of sand mining. Clean technologies and responsible mining practices must be embraced by companies to minimize environmental degradation. This paper contributes to ongoing discourse on sustainable resource management and underscores the necessity of collective efforts to address the environmental challenges posed by sand mining using GSCM practices.