SriLankan Catering serves environmental success story

SriLankan Catering’s success in protecting the environment stands out as a role model among corporate houses around the world as to what an organisation can achieve in conservation and corporate social responsibility.

The national carrier’s airline catering subsidiary has through a concerted effort blazed a pioneering trail in energy conservation, recycling, disposal of waste products, and environmental awareness among its employees.

Its efforts have won both global and national recognition. Winner of two Mercury Awards from the International Travel Catering Association in February 2011 for its unique innovations in disposing of food waste, SriLankan Catering was also given a National Energy Efficiency Gold Award 2010 in the large scale state sector category by the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority.

It also holds the ISO 14001:2004 certification for Best Environmental Practices, as well as ISO 9001:2008 for Quality Management Systems, ISO 22000:2005 for Food Safety Management Systems, and HACCP-Codex Alimentarius for Food Safety and Hygiene.

SriLankan Catering CEO Sarath Fernando said: “Our conservation efforts are no flash in the pan. This organisation has consistently maintained the highest standards in safety, hygiene and efficiency, and two years ago we embarked on a comprehensive programme to bring all of our operations to the forefront of global conservation standards as well.”

The company’s efforts to reduce its energy consumption resulted in an extraordinary 40% reduction in fuel usage and a 10% reduction in electricity consumption between 2009 and 2010.

The company also has a highly successful in recycling all types of waste products – plastic, polythene, tin, aluminum, food production waste, paper, and glass.

Among its most impressive programmes has been the successful conversion of food waste into food for farm animals. It was SriLankan Catering’s pioneering project to become the first airline caterer to use an ‘Auto Clave’ food sterilisation machine for this purpose that won it two Mercury Awards. The Auto Clave, which was installed at an investment of just Rs. 3.5 million, destroys possible contaminants in the more than one tonne of food waste from the used food trays of passengers, a process which saves the company over Rs. 12 million annually on incineration costs.

“Solutions don’t need to cost you an arm and a leg. Through this simple machine, we have reduced our food waste disposal cost from Rs. 31 per kilogramme to under Rs. 2 per kilogramme. So the savings to the company have been immense, although our sole objective had been to protect the environment,” said Fernando.

The Auto Clave also saves 175,200 litres of diesel and 45,990 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. It conforms to all international and local regulations on preventing contamination by destroying all fungi, bacteria, virus, and spores by heating the food waste for 30 minutes at 121 degrees centigrade. The animal feed is purchased by an environmental model farm in nearby Wennappuwa.

A key factor in its success has been the company’s emphasis on creating awareness among its staff, through a comprehensive project to train all employees in environmental best practices. The result has been employees opting to use stairs instead of lifts, using small-sized ovens for lighter loads of food, the use of sensor operated toilet fittings, and the monitoring of usage of virtually everything in all areas.

SriLankan Catering’s multi-dimensional approach is headed by an Environmental Excellence Committee chaired by the CEO, lending maximum importance and visibility to the programme. The committee is implementing a comprehensive three-year plan for conservation, with subsections for Community Development, Training and Promotional Matters, Standards and Accreditation, Energy and Water Management, and Waste Management.

In perhaps the finest gesture of all, the revenue earned from its conservation programmes is channeled for staff welfare and community welfare projects.SriLankan Catering, the flight catering arm of SriLankan Airlines, is the sole caterer for airlines that operate out of Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport. Its state of the art flight kitchen in Katunayake produces an average of over 11,000 meals per day.