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Wednesday, 31 December 2014 01:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Director/DCEO, Dilantha Seneviratne receiving the Sector Gold Award
Talawakelle was adjudged the winner in the Agriculture and Plantations Sector and also won the Gold Award for Excellence in Environmental Sustainability and a Silver for Excellence in Capacity Building. The winners were judged based on the fulfillment of stipulated criteria under the categories: Excellence in Leadership, Corporate Governance, Capacity Building, Performance Management, Local and Global Market Reach, Business and Financial Results.
Managing Director Roshan Rajadurai said: “We are encouraged by the recognition received for our commitment towards achieving excellence in our sustainable business practices.”
Incorporated in 1992, TTE Plc is a leading Regional Plantation Company (RPC) managing 17 tea estates in both high and low grown elevations and producing the finest Dimbulla and Ruhuna specialty teas. With a human resource base of 10,321 people and a land extent of 6,491.55 hectares, the company produces over 7.0 million kgs of black orthodox tea as well as green tea annually.
General Manager-Sustainability, Theja Dharmaratne receiving the Gold Award for Excellence in Environmental Sustainability
Strongly driven by an inspiring vision to “be the most admired plantation company in Sri Lanka”, the principles of sustainability have always been at the core of the company’s operations. Since its inception in 1992, the company has been consistent in its efforts to develop and sustain human, natural and economic resources in its journey towards sustainable growth which have been recognised and rewarded many times during the past two decades.
During 2014 the company secured two other Gold awards in the Plantation Sector from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka at the 50th Annual Report Awards and from ACCA at the Sustainability Reporting Awards.
TTE Plc said they firmly believe that the overall quality of the product and the resultant satisfaction of our customers were intertwined with the quality of life it was able to extend to its employees and the job satisfaction they experienced.
The company added that its human resource and social policy demonstrates its allegiance towards nurturing the most valuable resource - people; treating people at all levels with dignity and respect, enhancing quality of life, self-esteem and morale and empowering and providing equal opportunities for all employees from the very basis of the company’s business.
The other policies on health and safety, environment, quality and food safety further complement the company’s drive to ensure the sustainable development of its people, environment and the industry.
TTE Plc pioneered the concepts of quality and food safety in the tea industry, which were endorsed by Great Western, achieving the first HACCP certification in the industry in 2001 and Kiruwanaganga achieving the first ever ISO 22000 FSMS certification among all food processing factories in the country in 2006.
All operational factories of the company are now ISO 22000 FSMS certified. The quality of its product is the key driver of business and strategy to ensure premium quality which has clearly set the benchmark within a competitive industry..
‘Home for every plantation worker’
The No. 1 ranking in terms of prices fetched at the Colombo Tea Auctions for both low grown and western high grown categories among all Regional Plantation Companies for nine consecutive years stands as a testimony in the drive for quality.
‘Home for every plantation worker’ is the company’s holistic program designed to address and enhance social, health and welfare on all TTE Plc estates. This integrated program aims to develop the living environment through infrastructure development of basic amenities, capacity development, health and nutrition program and youth empowerment to improve the standards and quality of life of the resident communities across all estates.
The company has successfully implemented the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Program since 2011, which is an internationally recognised certification program integrating social, environmental and ethical management practices in daily operations.
Rainforest standard follows ten universal principles of sustainable agriculture which are built on three pillars – environment, economy and social justice. All high grown estates and the largest low grown estate, Kiruwanaganga, have received the Rainforest Alliance certification.
As a further step towards sustainable agriculture and manufacture and adding on to energy conservation efforts, all tea driers operating in factories have been converted from fossil fuel to wood-based renewable energy.
This initiative alone reduced green-house-gas emissions by over 3,000 t CO2e per annum. The carbon footprint in all estates is now measured and monitored to give a benchmark and structured basis to monitor and reduce carbon emissions annually.
The three hydropower plants in Radella, Somerset and Palmerston estates, with a generation capacity of 1.8 MW continuously support national production. Planting fuelwood is a continuous process at the estates and over 400 hectares was planted from 2007 to 2014. In recognition of these initiatives towards environmental conservation, the company received a National Award for Forestry and Environmental Management and Self-Sufficiency in Energy, at the first National Plantation Awards, conducted by the Ministry of Plantation Industries in 2012. The company was also honoured to receive the Presidential Award for the highest rate of replanting amongst all regional plantation companies from 2006 to 2011. A substantial investment amounting to Rs. 2 billion was made in replanting tea during the period 1993-2013, which has now increased the VP Tea percentage of the company to 65%.
Endorsed by Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture, ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Systems, Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP)-UK, and UTZ certification coupled with substantial investments made on implementing robust sustainable initiatives, TTE Plc has clearly demonstrated both their commitment and responsibility towards ensuring sustainable development of their human resource, environment and economic resources.
