usl report tcm75-196772

8/3/2019 USL Report Tcm75-196772

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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

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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 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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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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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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The journey towards sustainability

SOCIAL IMPACT . ECONOMIC IMPACT . ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

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“...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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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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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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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


“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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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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“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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“...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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“...encouraging women’s economic

empowerment by providing

inormation and resources in the areas

o career, education and enterprise...”


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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“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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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 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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“% o all Unilever productsmarketed in Sri Lanka are producedon shore.”

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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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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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“...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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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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“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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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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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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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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“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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“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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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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“...continuously working towardsminimising both the resources weuse and the emissions and waste we

generate.”

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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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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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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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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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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

usl report tcm75-196772

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