Coca-Cola enhances commitment to Water Stewardship

Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd reiterated its commitment to water stewardship yesterday, March 22 which was International Water Day as one of its core global CSR initiatives, Water Stewardship.

The Coca-Cola Company said it firmly believes that water is vital to both the global community and mainly to the company because water happens to be the core ingredient used in every product manufactured at the bottling plant in Biyagama.

Some of the foremost aspects Coca-Cola promotes through its water stewardship programme, are measurable conservation, improving and encouraging efficiency, community partnerships to promote and protect climate and the environment and inspiring a global movement to conserve and protect water resources. In keeping with these guidelines Coca-Cola Sri Lanka has so far promoted two successful water projects in Sri Lanka.

In partnership with the UNDP, Coca-Cola constructed and provided pipe-borne water by laying a 2km pipeline, connecting the Galle Water Board supply to a Tsunami affected village in Kalupe, Galle where approximately sixty homes and families benefited.
This programme managed to provide safe drinking water to the villagers of this area.

The second project is currently underway in Kattankudi, Batticaloa also in partnership with the UNDP. The company has pumped in a total amount of US$ 450,000 which is considered as one of the largest amounts deployed for a water project in Sri Lanka by a MNC. Basil Gadzios, Country Manager, Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka said, “In June 2005 Coca-Cola made a pledge to replace the water we use in our beverages. Our pledge to replace the water we use has three core components: reduce, recycle and replenish, which is called the 3R approach.

This means continually working to improve water use efficiency in our operations, recycling water used for manufacturing processes so it can be returned safely to the environment, and replenishing water in communities and ecosystems through locally relevant projects.” According to Gadzios, upon evaluating the progress of the two existing projects, the company will be looking at more opportunities to promote water stewardship in Sri Lanka.