Plasticcycle – the social entrepreneurship project of the John Keells Group hosted a webinar on the 5th of June 2022, live via Microsoft Teams and was broadcasted on Facebook Live in line with this year’s theme for the world environment day – “Impact of plastic pollution on the environment and its solutions”. The webinar was led by three speakers actively involved in working in the waste management sector and moderated by Haritha Walgampaya (Branding and Communications Executive for Plasticcycle). Through this webinar, with the objective of being the catalyst for significantly reducing plastic pollution in Sri Lanka, Plasticcycle raised awareness on the causes and effects of plastics in our everyday lives and to what extent the use of plastics can be reduced to, along with the alternatives that can be taken.
The first speaker, Dr. Chamara De Zoysa, a Chief Executive Officer of Enviro Holdings (PVT) LTD, an Academician, a well-known Senior Lecturer at CINEC Campus, Clinical Embryologist, a Public Speaker, a Business Consultant, and a Corporate Trainer who contributes to the area of sustainability, gave an insight to plastic pollution along with an analysis on the causes and Effects, the Do’s and Don’ts in terms of responsible disposal together with a summary of Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (4R’s) in waste management.
“The webinar provides a platform for everyone to understand the importance of plastic recycling to save our environment”
-Dr. Chamara De Soyza-
The Second speaker was Shanika Sandeepani who obtained her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the prestigious University of Moratuwa, her MBA from the University of West of England and is currently reading for her MSc at the University of Moratuwa specializing in Construction Project Management with the intention to find novel sustainable construction solutions. She emphasized the importance of reducing plastics in households and workplaces followed by an informative presentation on modern trends in plastic reduction, where she demonstrated how alternatives such as non-recyclable plastic, called PMAC (Plastic Modified Asphalt Concrete) are being used for layering of roads.
“As a longstanding partner with John Keells providing Plastic Modified Asphalt Concrete Solutions to effectively tackle the issue of plastic waste in Sri Lanka, AGC Innovate is humbled to be a part of this webinar by Plasticcycle, on the ‘Impact of Plastic Pollution on the Environment and its Solutions’ strengthening the common effort of saving our #onlyoneearth to live.”
-Shanika Sandeepani-
And finally, Ovin De Silva, a Chemical and Process Engineer from the University of Moratuwa specializing in Energy and Environment and representing the John Keells Group, joined John Keells Holdings in 2015 as a Management Trainee and is currently working as a Production and Regulatory Manager for Ceylon Cold Stores. He explained and briefed the initiatives Ceylon Cold stores has taken towards the reduction of plastic pollution and the initiatives taken in partnership with Plasticcycle towards the cause.
“Elephant house wants to change the mindset of our valued consumers to responsibly dispose of bottles and then we are there to collect and recycle to protect the environment as a responsible business”
-Ovin De Silva-
Plasticcycle is a social entrepreneurship project of John Keells PLC (JKH), Sri Lanka’s largest listed company in the Colombo Stock Exchange operating over 70 companies in 7 diverse industry sectors. With a history of over 150 years, John Keells Group provides employment to over 14,000 persons and has been ranked as Sri Lanka’s ‘Most Respected Entity’ for the last 15 Years by LMD Magazine. Whilst being a full member of the World Economic Forum and a Participant of the UN Global Compact, JKH drives its CSR vision of “Empowering the Nation for Tomorrow” through John Keells Foundation and through the social entrepreneurship initiative, ‘Plasticcycle’, which is a catalyst in significantly reducing plastic pollution in Sri Lanka.
