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8/3/2019 USL Report Tcm75-196772
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/usl-report-tcm75-196772 1/40
Doing Well by Doing Good The journey towards sustainability - Unilever Sri Lanka
2009
Social impact . Economic impact . EnvironmEntal impact
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Contents
Our corporate purpose 1
Unilever Sri Lanka – our company at a glance 2
Awards and recognition 3
Sustainability as a business strategy 4
Social impacts: reaching out to our community 7
About this report
This publication is the rst o its kind or Unilever Sri Lanka, and it signiesour commitment to the philosophy of sustainability. In it we examine how
Unilever Sri Lanka is impacting Sri Lankan lives and provide an account
of the goals and achievements of the sustainable development initiatives
that we have undertaken during the recent past in the areas of:
• Social impact
• Economic impact
• Environmental impact
This is a rst step towards a ormal sustainable development report
that we plan to start publishing annually with quantitative reporting in
line with the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. While the impacts
reported here are limited to our main manuacturing acility at Grandpass,
we will in uture be including our acilities at the Lindel industrial estate,
and our instant tea actory in Agarapathana as well.
Economic impacts: creating wealth and growing people 18
Environmental impacts: eco-efciency in manuacturing 30
Goals and achievements 37
Doing Well by Doing Good The journey towards sustainability
Social impact . Economic impact . EnvironmEntal impact
mssou ss s dd y fe. We ee eey-
dy eeds f u, hygee d es e
wh bds h he ee k gd, fee gd
d ge e u f fe.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
We see opportunities to grow our business by addressing some o the
most important social and environmental challenges acing the world
and our business today. We call this ’Doing Well By Doing Good’
Our values
Over 100 years ago, our ounders created not only some o the world’s
rst consumer brands, but also built a business with strong values and
a mission to act on social issues. We continue to build on this heritage.
A commitment to sustainable development and responsible business
practice is embedded in our Vitality, Mission and Corporate Purpose.
A sustainable approach to adding vitalitySustainable Development is about meeting the needs o society
today without compromising the ability o uture generations to
survive and prosper. For us at Unilever Sri Lanka, it means closely and
honestly examining our business and our brands and how they impact
Sri Lankans. And it means making sure that while we deliver value to
our investors and ‘do well’, at the end o the day we also ‘do good’ by
enriching the lives o all those we touch. We understand that in the
long term, it is only by adding value to the lives o our consumers,
partners, employees and members o the community in which we
work, that we achieve sustainable success.
Unilever has been increasingly integrating sustainability into the way
we achieve our mission o helping people to get more out o lie. On a
global scale, Unilever invests heavily in research and development to
improve the quality and value o our products. It is also continuously
working towards reducing the environmental impacts right across
the liecycle o each product, rom direct manuacturing impacts to
indirect impacts such as those caused by the sourcing o raw material
and the actual use o the product by the consumer. The company has
developed its own metrics to measure these impacts in meaningul,
quantiable ways and reports regularly on progress towards sustainable
development goals. Unilever’s online Sustainability DevelopmentReport 2008 (www.unilever.com) gives a comprehensive account o
the company’s social, economic and environmental perormance.
Building a sustainable business:strategy and governance
In the local context, we at Unilever Sri Lanka are also examining every
area o our business in the light o sustainability. From the sourcing o
raw material to manuacturing, distribution and consumer use, we are
assessing the impacts we have on our suppliers, our employees, our
business partners, our consumers, the community that we operate in,
and Sri Lanka’s environment.
Our corporate purpose
Our mission is to add vitality to lie. We meet everyday needs or
nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people look
good, eel good and get more out o lie.
Our deep roots in local cultures and markets around the world give
us our strong relationship with consumers and the oundation
or our uture growth. We will bring our wealth o knowledge and
international expertise to the service o local consumers – a truly multi-
local multinational.
Our long-term success requires a total commitment to exceptional
standards o perormance and productivity, working together
eectively, and a willingness to embrace new ideas and learn
continuously.
To succeed also requires, we believe, the highest standards o corporate
behaviour towards everyone we work with, the communities we touch
and the environment on which we have an impact.
This is our road to sustainable, protable growth, creating long-term
value or our shareholders, our people and our business partners.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Unilever Sri LankaOur business and our brands
Unilever Sri Lanka, ormerly known as Lever Brothers Ceylon Limited
was incorporated in 1938 with brands such as Sunlight, Lux and Pears
Rose. The rst soap actory was set up in Grandpass in 1940, and the
manuacture o bakery ats and margarine commenced a year later. In
1958 we established our own selling and distribution organisation. Over
the next three decades we diversied and expanded our operations
which were managed by several corporate entities such as Lipton,
Brooke Bond and Premier Foods. In the nineties, we consolidated our
businesses under the umbrella o Unilever Ceylon Limited. In 2004 we
became known as Unilever Sri Lanka.
Now, seventy years since we rst began operations in the country,we are home to twenty-six strong brands that enable us to meet the
everyday needs o Sri Lankans or hygiene, nutrition and personal care.
Developed with our local consumers at heart, our brands are all leaders
in their product categories, and are uniquely positioned in l ine with our
mission o adding vitality to life.
We are proud o the exceptionally motivated and loyal individuals who
make up the sta o Unilever Sri Lanka and work as one dynamic team
to grow and nurture our brands. They share Unilever’s philosophy and
vision, and its commitment to business ethics, work place saety, and
employee health, as well as its concern or the environment and thegreater community permeates through all levels o the organisation.
Operations
Unilever Sri Lanka produces 95% o all the products marketed in
Sri Lanka, right here in the country, providing direct employment
to 1100 people and indirect employment to thousands more. The
manuacturing o our Home Care, Personal Care and Foods is carried
out at our central manuacturing acility at Grandpass, which has a total
annual capacity o 80,000 metric tons. We also operate a hard soap
manuacturing plant and distribution centre at the Lindel Industrial
Estate in Sapugaskanda, while Premium Exports Ceylon Ltd., a subsidiary
o Unilever, operates an instant tea actory located in Agarapathana.
Product categoriesSkin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, personal grooming,
household care, abric cleaning, tea, spreads.
Our brands
Home Care
Sunlight, Vim, Rin, Sur Excel, Comort, Wonderlight
Personal Care
Lux, Liebuoy, Signal, Rexona, Ponds, Pears, Fair & Lovely, Sunsilk, Dove,
Axe, Clear, Vaseline
Foods
Ceylonta, Lipton, Laojee, Bru, Astra, Flora, Marmite and Knorr
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Highlights o recognition received rom external bodies rom 2004 - 2009
2004 Awarded the Ceylon Chamber o Commerce Best Corporate Citizen Award - First Runner Up
2005 Signal is voted Most Preferred Brand at National Icon Awards
Awarded CIMA Community Leader Award
2006 Awarded President’s Award for Environment
Sunlight is voted FMCG Brand of the Year , Vim - the winner in Household Care category , and Signal, the winner
in Personal Care category at the Power o the People (PoP) Awards
2007 11 Unilever brands won Superbrand status
Awarded the National TPM and 5S Awards or our main manuacturing acility at Grandpass
2008 Ranked among the top 10 o Sri Lanka’s Most Respected Companies (and the highest ranked multinational) by LMD
Sunlight voted the FMCG Brand of the Year and Youth Brand of the Year , and Liebuoy - the Personal Care Brand
o the Year, at the Power o the People (PoP) Awards
2009 11 Unilever brands ranked within the top 50 o the Top 100 Private Brands of Sri Lanka published in the
Brands Annual
Sunlight celebrates 125 years
Awards and Recognition
Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Award by the Sri Lanka Energy Manager’s Association
Awarded the Ministry o Environment ‘Green Jobs Award’ under the Climate Change category, or use o
renewable energy
Moves upto 5th position in LMD’s ‘Most Respected’ ranking
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
I am pleased to present to you the Unilever Sri Lanka Sustainable
Development Overview, an initiative to report on our eorts to integrate
concepts o sustainable development into our business strategy.
Sharing our journey
The past ew years have seen Unilever Sri Lanka examine its spectrum
o operations to gauge our potential impact on stakeholders.
And now, or the rst time, we are reporting on these impacts and
on what we are doing to ensure that our growth in this country is
indeed sustainable, ocussing on the sustainability initiatives we have
undertaken in the areas o:
• Creating positive social impacts - reaching out through our
brands to boost people’s personal vitality and well-being by
promoting better nutrition and hygiene habits, helping to
empower women, and responding to the needs o local
communities while encouraging our employees to get actively
involved in community projects.
• Economic impacts - creating livelihoods and generating
wealth or more Sri Lankans by increasing the proportion o raw
Doing Well by Doing GoodSustainability as a business strategy
materials sourced within the country and the proportion o goods
manuactured locally, developing the small and micro industrial
sector, and investing in our employees and our business partners.
• Helping our environment by optimising the use o resources and
minimising waste in our manuacturing operations.
We have a lot to be proud o. Our community outreach programmes
have been going on or over twenty-ve years. We rank among the
most preerred employers in the country, and among the most
respected corporate entities, and we have actively helped to build
the businesses o our suppliers and other business partners. We are aresponsible manuacturer: through our continuous eorts to improve
our perormance in this area, we have signicantly reduced the use o
resources and the generation o waste.
But, there is still much to be done. We are only at the beginning o our
journey towards sustainability. In order to tread lightly on our planet,
we need to continuously improve the sustainability o all aspects o our
operations, and to this goal we are completely committed.
This publication is yet another step in our journey. By publicly sharing
indicators o our perormance, we are pushing ourselves to newheights in accountability. In the coming years, we will be publishing
ormal Sustainable Development reports in which we will attempt to
quantiy our impacts in line with global standards.
Amal Cabraal
Chairman
Unilever Sri Lanka
20 November 2009
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
The journey towards sustainability
SOCIAL IMPACT . ECONOMIC IMPACT . ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“...linking our brands withprogrammes that are designed touplit the lives o those around us...”
“...linking our brands withprogrammes that are designed touplit the lives o those around us...”
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Social ImpactReaching out to our community
For over 25 years, long beore CSR became a buzzword with corporates, we at UnileverSri Lanka have been reaching out to the people in our community, linking our brands with
programmes that are designed to uplit the lives o those around us, irrespective o whether
they are customers o Unilever or not.
From boosting people’s personal vitality and well-being by promoting better nutrition,
hygiene and liestyles, to helping empower women and improving healthcare or children,
and providing disaster relie, we are committed to responding to the needs o local
communities.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Social Impact contd..
As one o the market leaders in the
manuacture o soap and toothpaste, we are
uniquely placed to play a role in improving
people’s health by making eective
products that provide protection against
disease; helping people access the right
products; and transorming everyday habitsthrough behaviour change campaigns.
The campaigns have ocussed mainly on
children, since lietime habits are best
inculcated in childhood.
Spreading the Signal smile
Since its launch in 1982, the Signal Oral Health Service has been
inculcating the importance o good oral habits in pre-school and
primary school children through activities such as providing ree dental
check-ups and distributing samples o toothpaste and toothbrushes as
well as educational leaets and posters, and by conducting large scale
community-based oral health camps. To date, Signal has reached over
three million children with its message o how brushing twice a day
with uoridated toothpaste can play a signicant role in preventing
tooth decay and gum disease.
Signal also supports dental research and has sponsored several
International Dental Congresses held in Sri Lanka. A successul
lobbying eort initiated by Unilever Sri Lanka and carried through
by the Sri Lanka Dental Association (SLDA) resulted in the Ministry
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
o Health declaring 31st October each year as National Oral Health
Day. Sri Lanka’s toothpaste penetration level is 90%, higher than its
neighbouring countries, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, while the
per capita consumption o toothpaste, an indicator o the number o
people who brush their teeth, is double that o its neighbours.
‘Sina Bo Wewa’
The warmth o the Sri Lankan smile catches the imagination o any
visitor to our shore and has given Sri Lanka the image o being one
o the riendliest nations in the world. This inspired Signal to launch
Signal Sina Bo Wewa (which can be loosely translated as ‘Spread the
Signal Smile’) in 2005. As part o this programme, a Signal Smile truck travelled the length and breadth o the country photographing 100,000
enchanting smiles, while spreading the message o oral hygiene. This
eort incidentally won a place in the Guinness Book o Records or the
highest number o photographs under a single theme. The campaign
was also highly commended by Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, or its
dazzling portrayal o Sri Lanka’s warmth and hospitality. The Sina Bo
Wewa campaign continues to this day.
“The warmth o the Sri Lankan smile
catches the imagination o any visitor
to our shore and has given Sri Lanka
the image o being one o the riendliest
nations in the world.”
000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0,000
0,000
0,000
0,000
0,000
0
Number o children reached through Signal programmes
Increase in brushing teeth with uoride.
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0 UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Social Impact contd..
“Through the Liebuoy health and hygiene awareness programmes that
we have been conducting in schools
since 2002, we have been able to
spread our message o cleanliness to
more than 1 million students in 750
schools...”
Coming clean with Liebuoy
At rst thought, inuencing more people to wash their hands and
brush their teeth may not seem like much, but in act the potential
or improving health and actually saving lives is tremendous. Simple
changes to everyday habits, like washing hands with soap and water
beore touching ood and ater going to the toilet, can halve the risk o
contracting diarrhoeal diseases that claim the lives o over 3.5 million
children each year, globally.
Through the Liebuoy health and hygiene awareness programmes that
we have been conducting in schools since 2002, we have been able tospread our message o cleanliness to more than 1 million students in
750 schools.
The rst series o programmes, known as Suwa Sirith Meheya was
designed to educate children about basic health and hygiene habits,
create awareness o how simple habits like washing o hands with
soap can help in preventing the spread o diseases, and help parents
to encourage these habits in their children.
In 2006, we launched a new programme we called Ignite the Hero
Within, which attempts to create awareness in a un, appealing
way, with ‘Germ Fighter Clubs’ set up in schools, so that the children
themselves get involved in promoting good hygiene.
The rst ever Global Handwashing Day - an initiative led by The World
Bank, UNICEF, Centres or Disease Control and Prevention, USAID and
Unilever was held on 18 October 2008. Unilever Sri Lanka celebrated
this special day by collaborating with the Ministries o Health and
Education and UNICEF to get one million school children involved in
activities like making a pledge to lead a healthier lie and, o course,
washing their hands with soap and water.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
The Flora Healthy Heart project
The Flora brand has long been associated with heart health. In Sri Lanka,
Flora’s Hadaridma or Healthy Heart campaign was launched in 2007
to communicate the message that heart disease is preventable and
create awareness o the liestyle changes that could prevent people
rom alling victim to this disease.
The programme, being carried out in partnership with Nawaloka
Hospitals Plc and the Sri Lanka Heart Association, is driven in urgency
by the statistics that show that the number one cause o death in
Sri Lanka is heart-related disease and that at least seven out o tencases could be averted by leading a healthier liestyle.
Public awareness o the dangers o unhealthy living is still low and we
hope that the ocussed message o the campaign - the importance
o eating better, reducing stress and exercising regularly - will enable
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Social Impact contd..
“The campaign is also being takento corporate oces to address how
busy executives could reduce the level
o stress in their lives and be kinder to
their hearts by adjusting their diets and
other aspects o their liestyles.”
Sri Lankans to make more inormed liestyle choices which in turn will
help them to live longer and healthier lives.
To reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible, the
campaign uses television as the medium o choice. Programming
includes liestyle counselling rom leading cardiologists and heart-
healthy cooking tips rom renowned ches.
The campaign is also being taken to corporate oces to address how
busy executives could reduce the level o stress in their lives and be
kinder to their hearts by adjusting their diets and other aspects o their
liestyles.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“...a special initiative to improve the
acilities at maternity, neonatal and paediatric wards at government-run
hospitals that provide medical care or
inants and children rom low income
amilies.”
Pears Sae Hands reaches out to children in need
Each year, hundreds o thousands o sick children are taken care o completely ree o charge through Sri Lanka’s national network o
government-run hospitals. At Unilever it was elt that we should do our
share to help and in 2002, Pears adopted as part o its social mission
a special initiative to improve the acilities at maternity, neonatal and
paediatric wards at government-run hospitals that provide medical care
or inants and children, particularly those rom low income amilies.
Unilever Sri Lanka began to channel 25 cents or every product sold
into a und set aside or this purpose, and soon there was enough to
get the project started.
In October o the same year, Pears Sae Hands completed equipping
and reurbishing the Emergency Treatment Centre and Nebulisation
Unit o the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo.
Since then, similar projects have been carried out at ourteen hospitals
around the country, based on the recommendations o the Sri Lanka
College o Paediatricians. So ar 27.5 million rupees has been collected
through the und, helping to provide an estimated one million inants,
children and mothers with better equipped and more cheerul wards
in which to receive treatment and recuperate rom illness.
As the project moved rom hospital to hospital, groups o volunteers
rom Unilever Sri Lanka have also become involved and, oten together
with members o the local community, have undertaken to spruce up
other areas o the hospital such as the children’s play areas, adding that
extra dimension o personal involvement to the project.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“...encouraging women’s economic
empowerment by providing
inormation and resources in the areas
o career, education and enterprise...”
Social Impact contd..
Empowering women
Unilever set up the Fair & Lovely Foundation in 2003 with a mission
to encourage women’s economic empowerment by providing
inormation and resources in the areas o career, education and
enterprise. Since then it has initiated a series o personality and
entrepreneurship development programmes including a series o
career guidance airs, which have been widely acclaimed as being
both timely and useul.
Empowering women is one o the most eective ways o creating prosperity, particularly inrural communities. An empowered woman will not only uplit the living standards o her own
amily, but oten that o her extended amily and other community members as well, so the
benets ripple outwards.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“Proessional career counsellors romthe University o Colombo were also
on hand to talk to visitors one-on-one
and oer guidance and advice, while
profling tests were employed to help
identiy proessions best suited to the
skills and interests o each student....”
One o the problems aced by senior students or young graduates
is a lack o inormation on the range o vocations available to them.
A xation on just a handul o popular options like medicine, engineering
and teaching, results in those who miss out being let rustrated and
oten unemployed.
From 2005 onward, the Foundation has been working to ll this void
by organising regular career airs in collaboration with the Vocational
Training Institute. At the 2008 Jeewika Athwela career guidance air
held in Matara, dozens o industry and vocation stalls presented some
150 avenues o employment. Each stall oered descriptions o the
relevant sector or a comprehensive account o a particular vocation
and a biographical narrative o a model proessional. An experienced
practitioner rom each eld was also available to answer any specic
questions.
Proessional career counsellors rom the University o Colombo were
also on hand to talk to visitors one-on-one and oer guidance and
advice, while proling tests were employed to help identiy proessions
best suited to the skills and interests o each student. A ‘CV corner’
taught interested visitors how to create their own CVs and gave tipson lling out job applications. Booklets with general inormation on 28
dierent sectors o industry, trade and vocations, and a comprehensive
index o vocational training institutes in the country were also made
available.
Held over a three-day period, the air attracted over 25,000 visitors.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Social Impact contd..
Projects carried out by Mehewara
teams in 2008 include: setting up
a new library or a government
school in the neighbourhood
o Unilever’s Grandpass actory;
working with a group o partially
blind children rom the Dea and
Blind School in Ratmalana to create
greeting cards, which were then
used as e-cards by Unilever; and a
‘make a wish come true’ programme or 21 children rom a children’s
home in Maharagama, where employees treated the children to a un-
lled day out complete with a picnic in the park and a movie, capped
by armuls o gits to take home.
Getting Involved in Mehewara
Mehewara, (Sinhala or social service) is a ormal scheme designed to
accommodate the desire o many o Unilever Sri Lanka’s employees
to get personally involved in community work. Unilever ully endorses
and encourages the idea o employees taking a hands-on approach,
and has taken the progressive step o oering employees one week o
paid leave each year to work or a charitable cause o their choice.
While this initiative is independent o Unilever’s own social
responsibility projects, some employees choose to participate in these
projects. Mehewara encourages employees to work in teams to build
camaraderie, and plans to expand the scheme to include amilies o
employees as well.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“Unilever also provided temporary
inrastructure acilities and helped
manage a reugee camp that housed up to 6,000 people rom the east coast
or two months, and supported an
income generation programme or
fshermen aected by the tsunami.”
Disaster relie and reconstruction
Ater the tsunami o December 2004 that wreaked destruction along
the southern and eastern coasts o Sri Lanka, taking the lives o over
31,000 and leaving thousands homeless, Unilever Sri Lanka and its
employees sped to the aid o the victims o the disaster by pledging
Rs 100mn or relie and reconstruction projects.
Within a day, we had started distributing ood, water and other
essential items. 1000 packets o cooked ood were airlited to those
in need or 7 days, along with 30,000 care packs and 25,000 kg o rice.
Water bowsers were sent to deliver water to reugee camps and severaltrucks were placed at the disposal o the World Food Programme and
the Ministry o Health to distribute medicines to camps during the
next two months. Unilever also provided temporary inrastructure
acilities and helped manage a reugee camp that housed up to 6,000
people rom the east coast or two months, and supported an income
generation programme or shermen aected by the tsunami. On the
trade rehabilitation side, we put up 14 temporary shops, which also
included stock replacement, seminars and workshops or retailers in
order to motivate them to recommence operations.
During the year that ollowed, Unilever Sri Lanka unded the
construction o 50 houses in Hikkaduwa and 70 houses in Trincomalee,
while also undertaking the renovation o several schools and hospitals
along the coastal belt.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“% o all Unilever productsmarketed in Sri Lanka are producedon shore.”
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0 UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Economic Impact contd..
Ethical business
Everything we do is underpinned by our commitment to the highest
standard o corporate behaviour. The Code o Business Principles that
we know simply as ‘The Code’ is Unilever’s statement o values and
spells out the standard o conduct that all our employees are expected
to meet. It is the benchmark against which we examine our own
behaviour, and against which we invite the outside world to judge our
activities.
The Code covers all aspects o our business interactions. It describes the
standards we must meet in terms o our general conduct, compliance
with laws and regulations, adherence to open and honest business
transactions, and avoidance o conict between personal interests
and company responsibilities. It covers good corporate governanceon behal o our shareholders, and the necessity to cooperate with
government and public bodies in our pursuit o legitimate business
interests. And it calls or respect or public opinion and respect or
competition, as well as concern or saety throughout our operations.
It highlights our responsibility to ensure that our products are
completely sae and oer good value to our customers in terms o
price and quality. It species how we must build up mutually benecial
relationships with our employees, our partners (including suppliers,
third party manuacturing units, co-packers, distributors, agencies, and
key accounts), our community and our environment.
Several mechanisms are in place to ensure that The Code is strictlyadhered to. A condential ethics hotline allows anyone having any
concern regarding a possible violation o the code to call in and voice
this concern with the assurance o anonymity.
Unilever’s global policies provide a mandatory set o rules that cover
operational and unctional matters and are designed to ensure
consistency in key areas o conduct.
Responsible marketing
Unilever is also committed to responsible marketing. While we do not
directly target our marketing to children below 6 years o age, we alsorestrict marketing targeted at children between 6 to 11 years o age
to the ood and beverage products which have a positive nutrition
prole. We also avoid using models or actors who are either excessively
slim or promote ‘unhealthy slimness’ in response to concerns about the
possible ill-eects o pursuing excessive slimness.
IMPACT ON SOCIETY
RESPONSIBLE
MANAGEMENT
PRACTISES
MUTUALLY
BENEFICIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
CONSUMERS
SHAREHOLDERS
COMPETITION
INNOVATION
PUBLIC
ACTIVITIES
EMPLOYEES
BUSINESS
PARTNERS
COMMUNITY
ENVIRONMENT
STANDARD
OF CONDUCT
OBEYING
THE LAW
BUSINESS
INTEGRITY
CONFLICT
OF INTEREST
The Code - Our impact on all stakeholders,
internally and externally
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Value addition and partner growth
95% o all Unilever products marketed in Sri Lanka are produced on
shore. Our main production acility at Grandpass in Colombo and our
instant tea actory at Agarapathana provide direct employment to
1,100 people.
We are also committed to sourcing more o our raw material locally. All
o the lea tea used in our Ceylonta brand is sourced locally, as is the
palm oil used or our edible products, and over 90% o our packaging
material. We also outsource manuacturing o some products to third
parties whom we reer to as co-packers, while warehousing, distribution
and transportation services are also provided by third parties. An
estimated 10,000 indirect jobs are sustained by Unilever Sri Lanka.
By adding value locally, the wealth that is generated is distributed
among our shareholders, employees, suppliers, distributors and service
providers, as well as the Government o Sri Lanka.
We understand that while adding value through the economic chain,
creating jobs and contributing to government revenue is important,
it is by ensuring that we have mutually benecial relationships with
our partners that we can make this value chain truly sustainable. For
this reason, we have ongoing initiatives to share global best practices,
transer technology and provide useul inputs into the business
processes o our business partners.
“...Unilever plays a positive role in Sri
Lanka’s economic development,
creating livelihoods and generating
wealth or Sri Lankans.”
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Economic Impact contd..
“...it is by ensuring that we have
mutually benefcial partnerships
with our suppliers, co-packers and
distributors that we can make this
value chain truly sustainable.”
Because o our commitment to long-term relationships, we are careul
at the outset to only select partners whose business practices are
compatible with our own. Over the years, Unilever has developed a
Business Partner Code, which we ask all our partners to abide by. We
in turn provide them with the training and support they may need to
achieve the standard required.
Suppliers and co-packers are invited to visit our production acilities
and are oered classroom-based training on the implementation o
our recommended occupational saety, health and environmental
care practices. Some suppliers are even given the opportunity to visit
Unilever actories in other parts o the world to gain exposure to best
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
practices in specic areas. Unilever has helped set up or improve the
acilities o many o our local suppliers, notably suppliers o packaging,
palm oil and colouring. In most cases, Unilever has helped to source
the necessary plant and machinery, and provided the technological
know-how and training required to bring the suppliers’ operations up
to the standards demanded by Unilever’s stringent quality and saety
criteria.
Business partners
We currently have 49 business partners involved in the distribution o
Unilever products. Together, they employ over 400 sales representatives,
merchandisers and oce sta, and account or 80% o our turnover.
We work together with these partners to carry out skill gap analyses
and provide the training needed to remedy shortcomings, and to
introduce measures such as insurance schemes to enhance the
working conditions o their sta. Our distributors know that they can
depend on us or continued support and we have established one-to-
one contact points to address all business-related concerns.
Two local logistics service providers handle the total ambientlogistics chain and the cold chain operations or Unilever Sri Lanka.
We ensure that they maintain the standards o business conduct we
require and comply with the relevant legal, regulatory, saety, health
and environmental criteria throughout the contract period, thus
guaranteeing the well-being and security o their employees, and
ensuring business continuity and continuous improvement in the
logistics operations.
“Our distributors know that they can
depend on us or continued support
and we have established one-to-one
contact points to address all business-
related concerns.”
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Economic Impact contd..
“An empowered woman will not only
uplit the living standards o her own
amily, but oten that o her extended
amily and other community members
as well, so the benefts ripple outwards.”
Creating livelihoods through
Saubhagya
Project Saubhagya is an innovative partnership
scheme that trains village women to become rural
entrepreneurs. The main objective o this programme
is to give rural Sri Lankan women an opportunity to
create micro-enterprises that could provide them with a sustainable
source o income, while improving direct rural reach or Unilever
products.
Unilever oers the women a range o mass-market products that are
relevant to rural customers and provides them with the training they
need on basic enterprise management. With this in place, the women
are ready to embark on their own micro-enterprises. Saubhagya
entrepreneurs act as direct-to-home ambassadors or Unilever brands
in their own villages and through their business are able to earn a
substantial income or their amilies.
But this initiative has changed these women’s lives in ways that are
even more proound than the income they earn rom sell ing products.
It has brought them sel-esteem, a sense o empowerment and a place
in society.
We have helped establish more than 3,000 Saubhagya entrepreneurs
to date and our target is to have 3,500 micro-entrepreneurs by next
year.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Employee health, saety and vitality
Fostering best practices o course begins with our own operations. At
Unilever, the health and saety o all our employees is a primary business
objective and we are committed to the continuous improvement o
our record o health and saety at work.
Our aim is to prevent all incidents o personal injury and occupational ill
health. Employees and their manager at all levels are held accountable
or the occupational health and saety. Whilst Unilever recognises that
employees have a right to expect a healthy and sae place o work
we expect all our employees to work saely. Thus, we constantly createawareness and promote responsible behaviour as well as sae working
conditions, to maintain an accident ree workplace.
The Chairman o Unilever Sri Lanka heads the Central Saety, Health
and Environment Committee, which develops all occupational saety
“We constantly create awareness and promote responsible behaviour as well
as sae working conditions, to maintain
an accident ree workplace.”
policies, rules, procedures and standards that we implement in order to
protect our employees and our environment. Our commitment to this
area is reected in a decrease in recordable accident requency.
In addition to health protection - protecting employees rom possible
work-related hazards, our corporate Occupational Health Strategy
also addresses health promotion - improving the health o individual
employees to enable them to work saely and eectively. A personal
vitality programme, ‘Vitality or Me’, was launched in 2007 to help
employees to nd ways o renewing their well being and energy, both
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Economic Impact contd..
in terms o tness o body (nutrition, health, hygiene and personal
care) and tness o heart, mind and spirit (managing personal energy
to improve vitality). Our eorts in this area won us international
recognition, when we were presented with the Unilever Regional
Health Award or Asia in 2008.
Respecting human rights
We abide by all Sri Lankan labour laws that ensure human dignity and
labour rights, and also by Unilever’s own stringent standards set out in
our Code o Business Principles. 65% o our employees are members
o trade unions, and we are proud to be a rontrunner in adopting a
new, more eective approach to labour relations promoted by the
International Labour Organisation.
“...our corporate Occupational Health strategy also addresses health promotion- improving the health o individual employees to enable them to work saely and
eectively.”
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Growing people
Growing our employees as proessionals and as individuals is a key
measure o our success and is vital to our sustainability. We are proud
to be an equal opportunity employer and one who places the well-
being o our employees at the very top o our agenda. At all levels, we
strive to provide opportunities or career growth as well as or personal
development.
We recognise that our employees represent the company’s philosophy,
reect the company’s image, and act as ambassadors or every message
that we deliver. In line with our human resources development goals o tapping potential, addressing weaknesses and building perormance
and proessionalism, Unilever Sri Lanka spends over 29 million rupees
annually on employee training.
In addition to external training to strengthen key areas, we also place
an emphasis on sharing knowledge within our organisation through
internal training and mentoring programmes. In 2008, over 60% o
employees across all levels in the organisation received oreign/local
in-house training.
Workorce categorization
Unilever Sri Lanka created history in 2008 not only or the company
but in the country also with the Workorce Categorisation project. This
initiative intends to upgrade skills o workorce employees at Unilever
Sri Lanka and will contribute towards workorce development in the
industry as well as the country.
Head Count Report - July 2009
Total no. o employees Total
Permanent
Management - Work Level 2+ 60
Management - Work Level 1 306
Sta 119
Workorce 671
Total 1156
This signicant achievement by Unilever Sri Lanka entails or the
workorce employee, career paths, skill development, perormance
based increments and promotions and motivation to work. The
organization too will benet by means o an ecient and skilled
workorce, improved productivity, competitive remuneration and
content employees.
“In addition to external training to
strengthen key areas, we also place an
emphasis on sharing knowledge within
our organisation through internal training and mentoring programmes.”
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Economic Impact contd..
“Our sta training and development
programmes are considered among
the best in the industry and our
Internship and Management Trainee
positions are much sought ater by
undergraduates.”
Grooming uture leaders
In 2008 Unilever Sri Lanka initiated an internship programme or
undergraduates with the dual objectives o attracting and grooming
the best potential talent or the company, and helping to make
university students more employable or the private sector. The
candidates selected or the programme are undergraduates at thecountry’s top universities and institutions, who have completed their
second academic year.
During the six-month programme the interns work on specic projects
while being exposed to team building training, leadership workshops,
and unctional academies. They are also encouraged to take on CSR
projects and participate in other sta activities, so that they have a
rich, balanced proessional experience. At Uniliver we oer them the
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“Functional placements provide
on-the-job learning while a
comprehensive training program,
regular perormance reviews and a perormance development plan or
each trainee ensures that the high
standards o the global programme
are maintained...”
combination o real responsibility and real work assignments wihtin
a challenging enviornment. We currently accommodate around 100
interns and trainees at Unilever.
Unilever’s Management Trainee program is highly sought ater
by graduates seeking a challenging and ullling career. The 2009
programme is aligned to the ‘Global Approach to Graduates’programme, and is being piloted in South Asia through Sri Lanka.
The 24-month programme has a unctional ocus while ensuring
each Management Trainee is also exposed to cross unctional
spheres. Functional placements provide on-the-job learning while a
comprehensive training program, regular perormance reviews and a
perormance development plan or each trainee ensures that the high
standards o the global programme are maintained.
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0 UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Environmental ImpactEco-efciency in manuacturing
Unilever’s Grandpass Factory is a complex manuacturing site with multiple production plantsand a total annual capacity o about 80,000 metric tons. Given the scale o our operations, we
are extremely mindul o our impact on the environment and invest a great deal o money
and eort into ensuring that our operations are environmentally sustainable.
Environmental considerations are an integral part o all planning, design and operational
decisions. And even though our manuacturing operations already comply with all relevant
local environmental standards, we are committed to urther reducing our environmental
ootprint by continuously working towards minimising both the resources we use and the
emissions and waste we generate.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
“...continuously working towardsminimising both the resources weuse and the emissions and waste we
generate.”
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Environmental Impact contd..
“Unilever Sri Lanka’s Grandpasssite became ully compliant with
the Unilever Environmental Care
Framework Standards in 2001, and the
acility obtained ISO 14001 a year later.”
Systems and standards
In line with Unilever’s Environmental Care Framework Standards,
Unilever Sri Lanka has established its own ormal environmental
management system. This is based on the ISO 14001 management
systems standard and is ultimately applicable to all areas o our
business.
An essential element o this system is the setting and reviewing o
targets or indicators that measure our perormance in the areas o:
optimising the use o natural resources, raw material, packaging
material and energy; and minimising waste water discharges, solidwaste and emission.
Unilever Sri Lanka’s Grandpass site became ully compliant with the
Unilever Environmental Care Framework Standards in 2001, and the
acility obtained ISO 14001 a year later.
In recognition o our commitment to sound environmental practices,
we were awarded the Presidential Award or Environment in 2006.
We were presented with a merit award rom the Sri Lanka Energy
Managers Association (SLEMA) or outstanding achievements in the
eld o Thermal Energy the same year.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
2004 2008 Reduction
Total Energy (GJ) 295,900 218,696 26
Specic Energy Usage
(GJ/Ton o production) 4.44 3.04 32%
Water usage (m3) 262,241 213,147 19%
CO2 emissions (Tons) 25,140 18,752 25%
SOx emissions (kg) 206,818 164,050 21%
Total waste (Tons) 0, 0,00 %
“...our acility is a zero discharge site...all waste water is treated and re-used
internally.”
Resource usage, waste and greenhouse gas
emissions
Our use o energy represents our most signicant environmental
impact in terms o the usage o non-renewable resources and theemission o greenhouse gasses which contribute to climate change.
In 2005 Unilever Sri Lanka began a ormal site-wide Energy
Management Programme aimed at nding ways to reduce the amount
o ossil uel we burn to power our operations, and thus reduce our
emission o greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide. 85% o the
total energy requirement at the acility is or the generation o steam
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Environmental Impact contd..
“The switch rom ossil uel to carbon
neutral uel means an eective
reduction in our carbon dioxideemissions o 14,000 tons a year (a
reduction o 80%).“
or manuacturing processes, thus the generation and usage o steam
that were the primary areas o ocus. Through a series o changes that
were adopted to improve the eciency o each step in the process,
Unilever succeeded in reducing its total consumption o steam rom
13 MT/hr to 10 MT/hr, and improved its specic energy usage rom 4.4
to 3.3 GJ/ton o production, between 2004 and 2008.
Not satised with these incremental improvements, we also evaluated
several alternatives to ossil uels, and in March 2009 Unilever Sri
Lanka commissioned a biomass boiler which is uelled by indigenous
renewable energy resources, to replace its existing boilers uelled by
urnace oil. This represented a quantum leap in our quest or cleaner
and greener energy. The switch rom ossil uel to carbon neutral uel
means an eective reduction in our carbon dioxide emissions o 14,000
tons a year (a reduction o 80%), in addition to bringing a host o other
green benets.
Water is a precious and increasingly scarce resource. The usage
o water in our manuacturing process is thereore one o the key
indicators monitored by our environmental management system. By
careully auditing all the processes that use water, and implementing
changes wherever necessary, we have been able to minimise
wastage, particularly through improvements in the eciency o steam
generation, reducing the amount o steam used, and the recycling
o condensate. Between 2004 and 2008, we have brought down the
usage o water by 19%.
Waste water rom our Grandpass production acilities is treated on site
by a state-o-the-art efuent treatment plant with a capacity o 350
tons o efuent per day. Our acility is a zero discharge site, which means
that all waste water is treated and re-used internally. The sludge rom
the treatment plant is de-watered, solar dried and used as ertiliser.
Unilever Sri Lanka uses a two-pronged strategy to minimise solid waste.
The rst is to prevent losses and wastage o raw material by improving
production eciency and rening and modiying production processes.
And the second is to re-use and recycle as much o the residual waste
as possible. Much o the packaging waste as well as all the oce and
canteen waste rom our site are now recycled by third parties.
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Switching to green energy
O the total energy requirement o Unilever Sri Lanka’s Grandpass
acility, as much as 85% is or the generation o steam used in the
manuacturing processes. Until a ew months ago, we depended on
traditional boilers uelled by urnace oil. Despite our ongoing eorts
to reduce our consumption o uel through a variety o energy saving
measures in our production process, the act that burning ossil uels
resulted in high carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulphur (SOx) emissions
remained a serious concern. Furnace oil also carried the added
disadvantages o high cost, and being subject to requent price
uctuations.
The solution was to turn to an alternative uel, and in March 2009,
Unilever commissioned a biomass boiler with a steam generation
capacity o 12 tons/hr – enough or the normal running o the actory,
to replace its existing ossil uel boilers. The new boiler, installed at
a cost o 120 million rupees, is uelled by renewable resources such
as coconut shells, wood chips and saw dust. These uels are also
categorised as carbon neutral – a term reerring to biomass which (i
not burnt as uel) would release the carbon dioxide trapped through
photosynthesis back into the atmosphere, through the natural process
o decay. The sulphur (SOx) emissions rom the biomass boiler are alsosignicantly less than those released by petroleum uel boilers.
The new technology will result in a saving o approximately 4,500
tons o urnace oil a year – an estimated net reduction o 14,000 tons/
year o CO2, and 200 tons/yr o SOx, which represents a reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions o 80%.
The use o saw dust as one o the boiler uels has an additional
environmental benet. The disposal o this waste product is a perennial
problem aced by the timber industry. Much o the saw dust waste
is either directly dumped or eventually nds its way into waterways,
causing severe water pollution. Unilever now uses up to 30 tons o saw
dust per day.
“The new boiler, installed at a cost
o 120 million rupees, is uelled by
renewable resources such as coconut
shells and saw dust. These uels are also
categorised as carbon neutral...”
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UNILEVER SRI LANKA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW
Better eco-efciency in soap manuacture
Unilever soaps have long been market leaders in Sri Lanka. Sunlight
commands 78% o the local market or laundry soap and Liebuoy,
Lux and Pears soaps together account or 64% o the skin cleansing
market. Each year our Grandpass actory manuactures over 47,000
tons o soap.
Until 2009, the soap manuacturing plant used palm-based neutral
oils using the energy-intensive SAGE (Soap Ater Glycerine Extraction)
process, which required the running o a separate plant or the
extraction o glycerine – another process with high energy cost.
Ater evaluating several options or improving the energy eciency o
the manuacturing process, Unilever Sri Lanka invested in setting up a
new alternative process which replaced the neutral oil with a Distilled
Fatty Acids (DFA) based blend. This new process is much simpler and
eliminates the need or several o the pumps and other machines that
“Unilever Sri Lanka invested in setting
up a new alternative process which
replaced the neutral oil with a Distilled
Fatty Acids (DFA) based blend.”
were part o the SAGE process. It also eliminates the need to run a
separate glycerine extraction plant.
Estimates based on the rst our months o production indicate that
there will be a saving o 11,000 tons o steam and 440Mwh o electricity
per year, bringing down energy usage rom 0.54GJ/ton to 0.19GJ/ton
o production. This translates into a reduction in CO2 emissions o 3000
tons or this process.
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Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd
258 M. Vincent Perera Mawatha,
Colombo 14Sri Lanka
Tel: +94 (0) 11 470 0800
Fax: +94 (0) 11 244 5213
Web: www.unilever.com.lk
Information in this report pertains to Sri Lanka. For global information