Sustainability in Sri Lanka

Improving lives, communities, and the environment

We are helping to improve the health of the planet

We ground ourselves in our deep-rooted purpose to protect the environment. To date we have taken many initiatives to reduce our environmental footprint.

Our facility in Horana is designed to tackle climate change by reducing our consumption of natural resources through rainwater harvesting, waste footprint reduction, heat energy recovery, greenhouse gas reduction and the usage of renewable energy.

Our Ceytea factory has significantly reduced our dependency of fresh water from our deep ground well, reducing our water footprint and making a positive effect on the way we approach manufacturing, climate change and the wellbeing of surrounding communities.

We are also forerunners in collecting plastic waste from our consumers and the environment, investing heavily behind diverse EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) projects and collaborating with stakeholders since 2013 to help collect and process plastic packaging from consumers, land and waterways.

We are all about improving people’s health, confidence, and wellbeing

Each year, we offer products that deliver positive nutrition. We also believe in winning with our purpose-led brands as a force for good; from Lifebuoy’s commitment to teaching handwashing in schools, to signal educating Sri Lankans on good oral hygiene habits. By simply scrubbing, brushing, sanitizing or consuming any of our products, our consumers are in fact taking action to support these causes. Through our ‘Every Day U Does Good’ campaign, we have positively impacted close to 10 million Sri Lankans thanks to Lifebuoy, Signal, Sunlight and Knorr, who have committed to create a better Sri Lanka by being a force for good.

We contribute to a fairer, more socially inclusive world

Our diverse and inclusive culture makes up of people from all walks of life. 55% of our Management Committee is made up of women and 31% of our workforce is female. ~9% of our workforce is under 30 years of age, and ~48% of our total workforce consist of millennials. We have also enabled 30,000+ Sri Lankan youth to become more employable over the last five years through our Employer Brand Youth Initiatives.

We are also striving to raise the living standards of our suppliers and partners. Our flagship women’s empowerment initiative, Saubhagya, provides 5,000 women the opportunity to earn a sustainable livelihood through door to door selling of Unilever products to their communities. We have also supported 2,700 retail outlets through Project Sunshine, by teaching small retail owners the principles of running successful businesses and remaining competitive.

Here are some of our key sustainability community and environmental initiatives.