Sustainability
The co-dependence of communities and natural ecosystems is inherent in our business model; our economic viability and success is contingent on social and environmental sustainability. Over the years, we have sought to enhance our natural capital and introduced pioneering initiatives to recycle waste, reduce plastic consumption, reduce our carbon footprint, and substitute non-renewable energy sources with alternative, clean renewable energy, among many other initiatives, to make a positive impact and sustainable difference in our communities.
Transitioning to Renewable Energy
We are making good progress on our journey to transition into renewable energy. At present, our manufacturing facilities in Banduragoda, Katana and Ja-Ela in addition to several Cargills Food City outlets are fully operating on solar energy. Our solar installations generate over 6000KW (or 6Mw) of clean energy, thereby helping to reduce C02 by approximately 63,000Kg annually. More outlets are currently engaged in installing solar panels and transitioning to renewable energy which would see a further increase in clean energy generated, with the annual reduction in C02 expected to be around 1.6 million Kg. Our goal is to see as many outlets and our other manufacturing operations making the switch to renewable energy.
Reducing our Carbon Footprint
We are mindful of our responsibility to the environment. It is why we are undertaking carbon footprint verifications across all our manufacturing operations as well as our retail chain. Our goal is to assess where we are and then set targets on an annual basis to systematically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions with a view to moving towards carbon neutrality in the future. Cargills Dairies and Kotmale Dairy Products are the first dairy companies in Sri Lanka to have successfully completed greenhouse gas emissions verifications.
Reducing Plastic
The key to solving the plastic pollution problem lies at the beginning - reducing overall consumption. Though plastic is ubiquitous, there is a lot we can do to reduce plastic consumption. We have innovated on our packaging to reduce the use of plastic and to support plastic recycling after end-use. In other cases, we have completely shifted away from plastic packaging such as in our restaurants and with yoghurt spoons, nectars, certain ice cream tubs, where we have replaced plastic with paper-based packaging or glass bottles. We have also leveraged our vast consumer touchpoints to set up plastic collection bins to encourage customers to deposit waste plastic which would then be recycled by the company.
Paving with Plastic: Sri Lanka's first Ever Plastic Car Parks
In partnership with AGC Innovate, we introduced a sustainable solution to re- purpose waste plastic released by our manufacturing facilities. Thus, Sri Lanka’s first ever plastic car park was paved, using Plastic Modified Asphalt Concrete (PMAC) which is developed using waste plastic. Since then, over 2700Kg of waste plastic has been re-purposed to pave car parks and driveways at our newly constructed Food City outlets and manufacturing facilities.
Responsible Disposal of Waste Cooking Oil
Cargills partnered with Novateq, an engineering solutions provider, to collect used cooking oil from KFC outlets and Cargills Quality Foods (our processed meats facility), which is then sent through a filtration process where the oil is refined and turned into biodiesel under EU standards. As at December 2021, 78.4MT of used cooking oil has been collected to produce 76.9MT of bio-diesel, which is equivalent to saving 270MT of Co2 emissions in comparison to regular diesel. This not only ensures that the used oil is re-purposed responsibly thus protecting the health of our people and the environment, it also contributes positively to providing opportunities for employment and protecting livelihoods along the way.
Efficient Use of Water
Water is a limited resource. Saving water saves money, but it’s also important for people and the planet. We have recycled a total of 46,608,000 liters of water across the Group in 2020/21. Furthermore, our sustainable agriculture model introduced by the Climate-Smart Agriculture Modernization Project uses drip irrigation which has helped reduce water consumption by over 60% in comparison to conventional agriculture systems.
