
SDG 7 (clean energy)
SDG 13 (climate action)
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. Over 7500 solar panels generate over 2500KW of clean energy, thereby helping to reduce Co2 by approximately 63,000Kg annually. More CFC 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 Co2 expected to be around 1.6 million Kg. Our goal is to see as many Food City outlets and our other manufacturing operations making the switch to renewable energy.
We are mindful of the fact that the responsibility to minimize the damage caused to the environment by
the greenhouse gas emissions out of our operations lies in our hands. It is for this reason that we are
undertaking carbon footprint assessments 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 Quality Dairies and Kotmale Dairy Products have successfully completed their greenhouse gas
emissions assessment for the year 2020. The other manufacturing facilities and the retail chain are
currently undergoing their assessments.
The assessments are conducted by the Sri Lanka Climate Fund, under the purview of the Ministry of
Environment.
SDG11 (sustainable cities and countries)
SDG12 (responsible consumption)
SDG14 (life below water)
SDG17 (partnerships for the goals)
We are working towards reducing the amount of plastic in our packaging and making all our packaging 100% recyclable or compostable. We recently launched the paper equivalent to the plastic spoon for Kotmale yoghurt and moved to paper-based trays for the Kotmale cheese wedges range. KIST has launched a 200ml glass bottle range for several flavours of the KIST Nectar range. At KFC, we have gradually phased out the use of plastic in the packaging of its rice meals and replaced plastic take-away bags with cloth and paper-based bags. This is equivalent to a reduction of around 4.25 MT of plastic per month. KFC is moving towards the goal of going completely plastic free in the near future.
To encourage our customers and instill the habit of recycling, plastic collection bins have been placed at 120 Food City and KFC outlets across the country. The initiative has been undertaken in collaboration with Unilever and Coca-Cola.
In partnership with AGC Innovate, we developed another sustainable solution to re-purpose waste plastic released by our manufacturing facilities. Thus, a project was birthed to build Sri Lanka’s first ever car park, using Plastic Modified Asphalt Concrete (PMAC) which is developed using waste ice-cream wrappers and polythene. 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 some of the manufacturing facilities. The waste ice-cream wrappers which were previously incinerated have now found a more environmentally friendly, new purpose.
Cargills has 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 refined and turned into bio diesel under EU standards.
Since the launch of the project in April and in the 7 months up to December 2021, 78.4MT of used cooking
oil has been collected to produce 76.9MT of bio-diesel, which is an equivalent to saving 270MT of Co2
emissions as compared to regular diesel.
The process 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.
SDG11 (sustainable cities and countries)
SDG13 (climate action)
SDG15 (life on land)
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 litres 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.
We recently launched project ‘Breath of Life’, an initiative that aims to add 10,000 trees across the
various locations across the Group. The 500th tree was planted on June 5th to mark World Environment Day
2021, and since then we have planted over 5000 trees across the country at our Food City outlets and
manufacturing locations.
There is much more that needs to be done to restore and refresh Mother Nature, and we are committed to
doing as much as we possibly can to protect, preserve and care for our planet.