Six firms, two new industries go green enroute to ISO 14001 certification

By Roshenka de Mel

The National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce launched the Environmental Management System (EMS) development support programme yesterday and assigned 35 Cleaner Production (CP) consultants to help six companies achieve ISO 14001 certification.

For the first time in Sri Lanka, through Wijeya Newspapers and Sierra Readymix, two new industries in the newspaper printing and cement ready mix sectors will receive ISO 14001 certification and will partake in an ISO scheme to achieve cleaner and more environmentally sound systems, productions and operations.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce further announced plans to select 10 more companies to partake in a similar ISO 14001 certification and EMS consultancy scheme valued at Rs. 6 million.



Also en route to receive ISO 14001 certification and the services of NCPC trained consultants valued at Rs. 500,000 each are John Keells Foods (Pvt) Ltd., Sierra Cables PLC, Brandix Essentials and Brandix Textiles.

The NCPC also announced the graduation of 52 CP specialists, from a Clean Production training programme and internal training at Sri Lanka Standard Institute (SLSI), all of whom will go on to further assist industries in efforts to instil more effective environmental systems.

Explaining the benefits of applying the cleaner production concept to business operations, guest speaker from Associated Motorways (Pvt) Ltd. Director of Manufacturing, H. Caldera stated: “Cleaner Production practices are an important environmental and business tool. If you properly implement CP practices in an organisation, you reduce waste, increase production efficiency and your production costs are automatically lowered so you become more locally and globally competitive.”

Caldera stated that under PC practices at his workplace, he cut Rs. 29.2 million worth of costs. He further encouraged the implementation of CP practices from a systems design level, through to every management and technological level in order to ensure that the threat of a product to the environment can be lowered at its design stages and kept low throughout the product’s life cycle.

In a written address, Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishard Bathiudeen explained that Sri Lanka, whilst growing rapidly, needed to adhere to International environmental standards to attract foreign buyers and secure economic growth.

His address stated: “Just yesterday, two international rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, upgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating from stable to positive. They announced that a key driver contributing to this upgrading is the peace dividend supported by greater macroeconomic stability. Sri Lanka is undergoing rapid economic growth. For us to continue to achieve such economic growth, our manufacturers and exporters need to position themselves on par with global environment standards of production.

“Going green is one of the three main challenges our export industry faces. Sri Lanka is a very small market, it is imperative that we expand our exports in par with international standards such as ISO certification. The fact that the number of ISO 140001 certified firms stood at 87 in 2007, and has now grown to more than 100, shows the increasing importance of ISO in the eyes of our manufacturers. ISO 14001 has become the preferred global standard for cross border buyers and the certification enhances an exporter’s supplier status.”

UNIDO Industrial Development Officer Petra Schwager explained that EMS trainings were crucial in assisting more companies to comply with environmental and industrial legislation. Commenting on the training delivered by NCPC, she stated: “In efforts to promote green industries, the mix of ESM Cleaner Production (CP) training with ISO 14001 certification is an excellent combination.”

As Sri Lanka’s growth and economic development continues to expand rapidly, environmentally sound business practices and operations at all levels are no longer a matter of ‘keeping in vogue’. The implementation of Environmental Systems Management and Cleaner Production practices are key in reducing a company’s costs and increasing competitiveness whilst ensuring the sustainable use of Sri Lanka’s natural resources and sustainable economic growth.

Furthermore, international standard certifications such as ISO 14001 create a gateway for exporters to raise their supplier profile and tap into more markets, an asset that is crucial in driving Sri Lanka’s export industry forward amidst fierce regional competition, to ensure continued economic growth for the country.