Sri Lankan apparel factory renews carbon neutral status

14 Aug '14

2 min read

Sri Lanka’s as well as Asia’s first carbon-neutral apparel manufacturing company – Mihila, renewed its carbon neutral status which it maintained for the third year running.

By renewing the status, Mihila Factory continues to drive environmental sustainability as a vital aspect of its business operations, the Daily FT reported.

The factory’s complete carbon footprint has been independently assessed and verified by Carbon Consulting Company (CCC), and it has purchased sufficient carbon credits to compensate for the impact through CarbonNeutral Company of the UK.

Through these initiatives, Mihila which is owned and operated by the Hirdaramani Group ensured that it made complete amends for the greenhouse gas pollution, it generates through its operations.

“Mihila was set-up to fulfill the Hirdaramani Group’s vision of demonstrating that manufacturing could be carried out in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner,” said Chamara De Silva, General Manger of Mihila.

He informed, “We took a giant step by becoming the first apparel factory in Asia to be certified CarbonNeutral because we wanted to ensure we went all out to compensate for the environmental impacts we created, rather than simply claim energy reduction or waste recycling as our sustainability efforts.”

“Now our partners and clients can be re-assured that the products we manufacture for them are not only done so in line with the highest of quality and labour standards, but that they do not generate a significant net environmental impact on the planet”, he added.

“Building great partnerships are what we are about. Unlike the lip service claims by many in industry today, correcting and mitigating the environmental impacts created through industry is not achieved overnight,” said, Sanith Wijeyeratne, CEO of The Carbon Consulting Company.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India