TEEJAY LANKA

Q: What is the role of corporates in the effort to make Sri Lanka ‘green’?
A: The impact of corporates adopting natural resources on GDP indicates that we have the power to contribute to a green Sri Lanka. We bear the responsibility of practising responsible resource consumption, and investing in process improvements and innovative technologies to ensure that a resource loop is maintained.

Corporates should collaborate and find solutions to the nation’s green dilemmas – such as waste management, alternative renewable ene-rgy sources and water recycling. Everyone is equally responsible for preserving the environment and natural resources.

Our corporate sector has the capacity to orga-nise and execute national scale projects on this front.

Q: Could you shed light on what corporate sustainability means for organisations?
A: Corporate sustainability is a pragmatic approach to creating long-term stakeholder value by driving a strategy focussed on the ethical, social, environmental, cultural and economic dime-nsions of doing business. It addresses a broader spectrum compared to CSR, and places greater emphasis on long-term drives and values.

Healthy corporate sustainability practices have been the secret behind the longevity of companies. They create pathways to enhance corporate image and future prospects.

A positive approach to corporate sustaina-bility is the need of the hour as it acts as the business equilibrium that balances social, environmental and economic aspects.

Q: As for sustainability related indicators, how are they considered as being performance measures at Teeay Lanka?
A: Teejay Lanka has assigned specific key performance indicators (KPIs) at each organisa—–tio-nal, departmental and employee level, to ensure that the use of water, electricity, and furnace oil is optimised.

We also closely monitor the company’s waste management structure to reduce our carbon footprint. These KPIs are reviewed during the mon-thly performance evaluation cycle to determine effectiveness.

Teejay Lanka maintains daily records and conducts internal audits to ensure that the qua-lity of treated wastewater meets the standards manda-ted by the Board of Investment (BOI) and Central Environmental Authority (CEA).

We are committed to adhering to global brands’ compliance initiatives to achieve our annual KPI targets.

Q: How does the company look to minimise environmental impacts?
A: Impact assessments are conducted internally, and by collaborating with external institutes and agencies.

As a company that is ISO 14000:2015 certified for environment management systems, Teejay Lanka has pledged to live up to the expectations associa-ted with the certification while frequently updating its aspects and impacts register.

We recently partnered with RESET Carbon to imp-lement a collaborative project on energy and environmental impacts with the renowned brand PVH. This offers us insights into areas that need to be addressed to minimise our carbon footprint.

Q: What are the global benchmarks when it comes to sustainability?
A: The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is a global apex body comprising a multi-stakeholder alliance in the fashion industry. This includes yarn suppliers, fabric manufacturers, entities in the apparel industry and brands.

The Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) is its global benchmarking assessment for sustainability performance.

Teejay Lanka is a manufacturing facility that has earned an admirable Higg FEM score. Never-theless, we are on a continuous improvement journey to enhance our environmental and chemical sustainability initiatives.

In addition, we submit a detailed account of water data to the CDP (formerly Carbon Dis-c-losure Project) annually to provide complete transparency and compare our performance on a global level.

Our association with CleanChain by ADEC Inno-vations provides us with an unbiased impression of and offers transparency in global standards of the chemicals in the entire supply chain. This application is also used by globally recognised appa-rel brands.

The chemicals used by Teejay Lanka are Oeko–Tex and bluesign certified. We only accept chemicals registered on the ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) Gateway, ensuring that the company takes great strides in its ZDHC Roadmap to Zero journey.

Teejay Lanka has introduced a clean dye system to reuse dye baths with salt. This helps reduce salt consumption by 53 tons a day. It also entirely dissolves the solid content in the discharged water by 30 percent.

We are in the process of introducing an innovative alternative approach that uses less caustic soda in bleaching fabrics to reduce fibre waste.

Sanjaya Basnayake
COO
Production & Engineering		  bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb Edga Melan
General Manager
Engineering

Telephone 036 4279500 | Email info@teejay.com | Website www.teejay.com