Cleantech conducts beach clean-up campaign on World Environment Day
Cleantech, the environmental management arm of the Abans Group, recently collaborated with the Institute of Environmental Professionals Sri Lanka (IEPSL) to conduct an extensive beach clean-up campaign in honour of World Environment Day.
Having taken place in June, the event focused on raising awareness of marine pollution and its deleterious impact on Sri Lanka’s world-famous beaches.
A team comprising of Cleantech and IEPSL members as well as volunteers from the public descended upon the Wellawatte coastline to perform the large-scale beach clean-up. Armed with black garbage bags, each individual worked to clear the region of the waste that regularly washes up on the country’s shores. The initiative recovered tons of debris and castoff items, with plastics encompassing 31.4 percent of the total. Eighty percent of the plastics found were PET bottles. This gave Cleantech the opportunity to educate the participants on the proper disposal of household plastic waste, and present recycling as an easy solution to preventing further beach pollution.
Remarking on this CSR initiative, IEPSL President H.S. Premachandra said: “It was a nice collaboration. Professionals, service providers and regulators got together in front of so many beach users to give the important message that we should not pollute the environment. We should instead focus on preserving the health of our beaches for the future generation by consistently being conscious about our contribution towards plastic pollution, especially in marine environments. If each and every individual of our society inculcates more sustainable habits in their dayto-day activities, Sri Lanka would fast become a greener and cleaner nation. I deeply appreciate the excellent coordination and organisational support provided by Abanscleantech who helped make this event a success.”
“Often we take pride in the fact that Sri Lanka’s beautiful beaches are renowned across the globe. But do we do our part in keeping these beaches clean? That’s why Cleantech felt the need to conduct this noteworthy initiative with IEPSL, and draw the public’s attention to how we as a nation can prevent damage to our coastal environment by performing responsible plastic waste management,” said Cleantech (Pvt) Ltd Environmental Management Head Janaka Wijesekara.
Established by the Abans Group in 2002, Cleantech is the nation’s leading service provider of resources recovery including e-waste management, built-environment maintenance and sanitation facility services. Having been granted the Schedule Waste Management License by the Central Environmental Authority, the primary aim of Cleantech is to protect Sri Lanka’s natural environment and minimise the accumulation of harmful waste. The company mainly provides resource recovery facilities to different market segments, particularly, corporate clients, CSR contributors, over 10,000 housing units in western Colombo and over 1,200 municipal employees.
Currently, Cleantech offers a social base electronic waste collection programme in Sri Lanka that covers the major cities in the Colombo district with the collection and sortation facilities meeting or exceeding international quality standards. Cleantech also works together with city cleaners to provide Colombo citizens an added assurance of responsible e-waste management. Plus, all e-waste materials are gathered in a safe manner, pre-processed and exported to Japan and Europe for recycling purposes. The company has BASEL clearance to export e-waste to the governments of Japan and Europe.