Sustainable Solutions
Our commitment to sustainability extends across all aspects of our business and value chain with the purpose of delivering value to all our stakeholders. We are driven by a group wide purpose which is focused on the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit, where we record energy usage, recyclable and non-recyclable waste, direct carbon emissions from our transportation activities, energy and carbon emission reduction initiatives, which are updated on a central platform for easy monitoring.
We believe in empowering all those in our ecosystem to thrive with dignity by fully engaging our team on sustainable practices. Our corporate strategic plan provides a clear direction on what we do to achieve the intended positive impact on people, planet and profit.
Environmental
We consider that the health of our environment is as important as the health of our people. Therefore stringent measures are taken at Advantis Free Zone to ensure that we do not cause any harm to our environment whilst conducting our daily operations. In line with this, a well detailed waste management system has been implemented to minimize our one-time waste and to maximize recycling of waste.
Bio diversity is another aspect we are keen on where we plant trees annually, joining hands with our suppliers as well. Energy and water conservation is another area that we are focusing on in our sustainability protocol from the beginning. From the stage of designing our distribution centers , we have installed LED lights and sky lights in our premises to ensure minimum use of non-renewable energy. Going green is a larger part of our sustainability strategy.
The projects we have successfully completed so far include;
- Go Green with Renewable energy: Installing Solar Power with 261KWp capacity at the Mercury Facility
- Drive towards Polythene Free Organization
- Reducing food waste up to 0.035Kgper man per day
- Reducing water usage up to 750,000 liters per month
- Reducing solid waste up to 0.08 per man per day
- Birthday Tree: Planting a Fruit Tree at the Venus premises on the birthday of each employee to build a greener environment
- Annual Tree Planting Programme
- Maximizing Waste Recycling – Currently covers recycling of broken wooden pallets, cardboard, polythene, A4 sheets and shrink wrap tubes
Community
We believe that being a pillar of strength to the communities around us and to our own employees, is equally important as being a good corporate citizen. Our attempts are focused on lighting up the lives of our employees and thousands of kids in generations to come. Our people are the biggest asset of our business, the community is the biggest asset of our country. We strive to make sure both these communities are well looked after. Some of the projects we work on, in our journey of taking care our communities are detailed below;
- Providing a library to a rural school
In line with our commitment towards society, we donated a library building along with 1,000 books, to Batuwita Kanishta Vidyalaya in 2019. This school located in the Horana area, did not have a library at the time we approach the school. Around 100 students are getting their primary and secondary education at Batuwita Vidyalaya and according to the Principal of the school, not having their own library was a huge barrier the teachers and students had to overcome. - Donating one-day salary of each employee to Sri Lanka COVID Fund
The COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging time for all communities both from an economic and social sense. With the intention of strengthening the initiatives taken by the Sri Lankan government and the nation as a whole, the team at Advantis Free Zone donated a single day’s salary to the Sri Lanka COVID Fund. - We have taken care of all our employees during the COVID Pandemic, ensuring 100% of mental and physical health and safety.
The COVID-19 pandemic meant the businesses around the world had to shift to a new normal in conducting their business activities. As such Advantis Free Zone took steps in enabling Work From Home facilities to all employees who were able to do so. However the criticality and the nature of our business meant a considerable workforce has to be on premises to fulfil the needs of our clientele. Hence in addition to strict adhering of COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, regular PCR testing and registration of all staff for COVID-19 vaccination was also undertaken. Our Quality Improvement teams also made sure to organize plenty of events for employees for mental health balancing be it working at premises or from home!
Governance
We are conscious of the importance of integrating our sustainability strategy with our organizational strategy. Our focus is driven towards partnering with our suppliers and customers appropriately in going green. We take pride in aligning our operations and practices with globally accepted best practices which also ensures a seamless customer experience. In line with this we have received the following certifications;
- ISO 9001-2015 certified
- C-TPAT certified
- SMETA-two pillar certified
Our Sustainability Pledge
In all the activities I do, I will use day light wherever possible and switch off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances when not in use
In all the activities I do, I will close water faucets tightly when they are not in use
I will ensure to serve myself with only the food I can consume
I will do my best to avoid the use of one time polythenes
I will plant a tree every three months to help purify the air we breathe
I will ensure to bring a smile to the faces of those I encounter every day