ATG achieves carbon reduction goals – awarded ISO 14064-1:2018 Certification

From left: ATG Ceylon Quality Assurance DGM Dharshika Arumabadhu, ATG Group of Companies Project Manager Jamaal Abdeen, Quality Assurance Director Sisira Kumara, Research & Development Director Sunil Mendis, ATG Ceylon Sustainable Development Engineer Sanjeewa Sandaruwan, Quality Assurance Senior Manager Dixy Gamage

The ATG Group of Companies, one of the most distinguished glove manufacturing companies in the world, has been awarded the prestigious ISO 14064-1:2018, the ISO-accredited GHG Carbon Footprint Verification.

The certification recognises ATG’s years-long successful implementation of a robust Environment Management System that extended to the sustainable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. 

The Group had accordingly established a comprehensive carbon reduction framework to monitor, verify, quantify, and report on greenhouse gas emissions and also measure the effectiveness of its efforts. It scrutinises the total GHG emission by covering ISO’s all four emission categories (scope 1 to 4) including purchased electricity, fuel consumption, upstream and downstream transportation, waste disposal as well as water consumption.

ATG Chief Sustainable Development Engineer Sanjeewa Sandaruwan commented, “Significant efforts by ATG to quantify the Carbon Footprint of its selected facilities is part of a systematic sustainability action plan within the company. It is also a long-term commitment to reduce our environmental impact and become a more responsible corporate citizen, whilst ensuring our business entity is sustainable, ethical, and eco-friendly. We consider this, a milestone of our journey towards carbon-neutral manufacturing or net zero, at the end of the day.” 

Keeping in line with the ideology of circular economy, the ATG Group had also been able to construct Sri Lanka’s largest water treatment plant, to filter and purify the water used in the production process with a successful monthly average purification capacity of 72,000 cubic metres.

The Group also boasts of being the owner of Sri Lanka’s only In-vessel Rotating Composter which converts bio-wastewater sludge into organic fertiliser within two weeks. Further, ATG’s Solid Waste Management Policy converts sludge into different types of raw material such as rubber, while harmful incineration of these materials is reduced, as much as possible. ATG has observed, over the years, that its environmental sustainability efforts had created a number of indirect job opportunities and uplifted grassroots-level entrepreneurs.

ATG Group Project Manager Jamaal Abdeen explained the Group’s holistic approach to environmental sustainability. He said, “When we launched our sustainability initiatives, we did not envision it only to be limited to a specific organisational goal or a time frame. It was our aim to exercise a holistic approach to the programmes. We innovated ways to interlink diverse stakeholders in our society, their ideologies, and even lifestyles. Our sustainability initiatives are designed more specifically to impact the grassroots-level change agents who will then extend their vistas of prosperity to the larger community, ingrain the benefits to the education system, and create more job opportunities, directly and indirectly to those around our production facilities. We are determined to create a highly connected and dynamic socio-economic ecosystem for all members of our society to thrive.”

ATG’s key efforts have also been recognised earlier with ATG Group being awarded the ISO 14001 certification since 2007, as a result of its evaluation of over 34 environment-related parameters, which are reviewed every six months.