Sri Lanka News First Latest War News Sri Lanka News Papers Hot News Breaking News Sinhala Tamil News online internet: Sri Lankan industry introduces “Green Factories Sri Lankan industry introduces “Green Factories ================================================================================ Colombo News Desk CND on 16 March, 2010 02:04:00 Sri Lanka has always had a good environmental record and the lifestyle of her people is generally considered eco-friendly. Presently many of her exports are textiles and garments, which are destined to countries where the consumers often expect imports to be produced in an environmentally friendly manner. It therefore follows that the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, the country’s investment promotion agency, has actively encouraged investors who produce goods, notably garments in an environmentally friendly manner. In fact many of the leading players in the textile and garment industries have indeed introduced such measures at their manufacturing plants. These measures are multifaceted and include the adoption by many of the leading clients of policies aimed at reducing global warming and which favour recycling and reducing emissions of chemical substances. In addition new factories are built from the onset as green factories to ensure the protection of the atmosphere, the water and soil. They have also focused on the creation of an environmental awareness among their staff in addition to building and strengthening strong ties with local communities. These are some of the criteria that need to be adopted to be awarded green factory status, which three leading apparel manufacturers from Sri Lanka, operating under the BOI have already achieved. Their success stories need to be examined. Brandix green factory at Seeduwa Being the pioneer of the concept of “total solutions” in Sri Lanka’s apparel sector, the Brandix Green Factory at Seeduwa was the first apparel manufacturing facility in the world to be rated Platinum under the LEED Green Building System of the US Green Building Council (USGBC). The Brandix plant is the highest rated Platinum certified Green apparel manufacturing plant in the world under the leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system. It success lies in its reduction of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emission to the atmosphere by 80 present, Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) emission by 71 percent and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) by 92 percent. The factory has also succeeded in saving energy by 46 percent, reducing its usage of precious portable water by 70 percent and in recycling almost all of the solid waste generated at the site. Brandix specializes in casual bottoms, intimate apparel and underwear, textiles, knitted fabrics, sewing and embroidery thread, accessories and hangers, and also offers wet processing and finishing and fabric printing. Brandix supplies to some of the world’s renowned apparel brands such as Victoria Secret, Gap, Marks & Spencer, Next, and Tommy Hilfiger. MAS Intimates “Thurulie” Another success story of a BOI company, which has set up an eco-friendly factory, is the MAS Holdings Thuruli factory in Thulhiriya, which specializes in the manufacture of lingerie. The plant was the world’s first garment eco friendly factory. The plant is powered entirely from carbon neutral sources. The MAS Intimates Thuruli factory in Thulhiriya is the world’s first garment eco-friendly factory recently awarded LEED (Platinum) Certification established by the US Green Building Council. It claims to be the world’s first clothing factory powered solely by carbon-neutral sources. MAS Holdings worked in collaboration with Marks & Spencer US $ 7 million venture is fast becoming the benchmark for the green factories in Sri Lanka. MAS Intimates produces lingerie for the European markets. The Thuruli factory has introduced many eco-friendly practices such as in its design, energy, lighting, water usage, waste management, bio-diversity and worker well being. Even the construction of the factory has involved the use of ecologically friendly materials such as eco-bricks which made out of stabilized earth, for its walls. The cement stabilized earth has been utilized for the roads and walkways. In order to save energy, a low energy “evaporative cooling” system is used in place of air conditioners and this along save 65% of the energy consumed. A multitude of solar panels provide 10% of the plant’s power, while the other 90% is provided by an innovative “green power” supply agreement from a hydro power plant in Deniyaya via the national grid. CKT Apparel – “Mihila” Another successful example is Mihila, the newest addition to the Hirdramani Group, one of the pioneers in apparel trade in the country. Mihila has an environmentally friendly green factory, which is a state of the art. It is a fully-fledged, totally integrated facility to handle knit products. Mihila has a capacity to produce over half a million pieces per month and it plays an important social role as it has created much employment for rural youth. Mihila is the first apparel factory in the world to be honoured with the Gold rating of the LEED certification under new construction category by the US green building council. This state of the art factory saves 48% of its energy, when compared to a conventional factory. The factory has introduced a unique feature, namely an evaporation cooling system, in place air conditioning. Hence Mihila is able to save 75% of its energy. In addition Prismatic skylights have replaced conventional factory lighting in the factory. Furthermore the solar water heating and solar powered streetlights are used to light up the factory. Renewable energy with solar panels help to generate power during holidays and this is exported to the national grid. Also of note is the 60% total water saving by the successful harvesting of rainwater at the Mihila Plant. It is therefore clear that environmental concerns will have a major impact on the development of future industries in Sri Lanka as this mirrors a global concern among governments, industrialists and consumers that a right balance needs to be struck to ensure that production can be achieved within acceptable parameters of environmental protection. Hence the BOI has inn recent years placed considerable importance environmental considerations in its investment promotion plans and strategies.