INSEE Ecocycle Lanka’s General Manager, Sujith Gunawardhana, shares insights into the company’s mission to foster ESG and champion the circular economy in Sri Lanka, both as a pioneering practitioner and enabler. Without legislature and policy to further ESG in the country, INSEE Ecocycle is building the infrastructure to facilitate collaboration and transfer global best practices and technologies for a sustainable future.
The company collaborates with over 1,000 companies, including multinationals, local conglomerates, small and medium enterprises, government institutions, non-government organizations, and more than 100 local councils, to manage waste and implement sustainable waste management practices. It also derives alternative fuels using waste or resource recovery, enabling carbon footprint reduction and a circular economy.
Gunawardhana says these efforts have also improved people’s living conditions by eliminating waste dumps and pollution of water bodies. Annually, INSEE Ecocycle safely disposes of 100,000 tons of waste sustainably, which otherwise would end up in landfills, water bodies, or even openly burned. More than 1,000 families depend on this business.
Why is championing ESG important to INSEE Ecocycle?
Let me begin by framing the context. INSEE, as a company, has inculcated ESG into its DNA. We do have an INSEE sustainability ambition 2030, which extends to INSEE Ecocycle, which specializes in waste management and circular economy in Sri Lanka as an enabler of ESG to the country. Our journey began with efforts to generate alternative fuels to substitute fossil fuels using waste. One of the key activities to drive reduced carbon emissions is substituting coal energy used in the cement manufacturing process with alternative renewable sources, a significant step in the fight against climate change. We also have many initiatives to reduce water consumption, support biodiversity, and drive a circular economy. All these are overarched by our efforts in occupational health and safety, which is a strong commitment of INSEE. And we actively collaborate and work with the communities when driving ESG.
INSEE Ecocycle is the pioneer in waste management in Sri Lanka. Our operations started with making alternative biomass-based fuels and then moved into industrial waste management. Today, we are engaged in all sorts of waste management activities, including sorted municipal waste management. We are actively working on resource recovery aspects to close the loop and enable true circularity. On the other hand, as a pioneer in waste management and the circular economy, we act as an enabler for most companies, governments, and non-government institutions to drive their ESG goals. This is another key role of Ecocycle in championing ESG.
What are the challenges in fostering ESG and waste management in Sri Lanka, and how is INSEE Ecocycle addressing these?
The waste management sector is still developing in the circular economy space. As a developing country, we sometimes lack the locally available technologies. Our scale of operations is small compared to other parts of the world, which is also a reason for not having certain technologies in place within the country.
Economic challenges exist in the waste value chain, mainly because Sri Lanka does not have legislation holding manufacturers responsible for the environmental impact of their products. There is also no extended producer responsibility, which holds them accountable for post-consumer waste management. This encourages producers to design products that are easy to recycle and free of hazardous substances.
Also, communities face awareness-related challenges on sustainable waste management practices and ESG. Because of this, many informal practices are also visible, sometimes harmful to the environment and people.
We take many steps to innovate within the circularity framework to inculcate better ESG practices within the waste management sector. We bring global expertise and technologies and adapt them to the local context and scale. Also, we have developed concepts like Producer Responsible Organization ( PRO) to tackle the challenges coming in the absence of EPR (extended producer responsibility policies). That helps to bring a collaborative approach with the manufacturers to drive ESG in the waste management sector.
What sets INSEE Ecocycle apart?
The main thing differentiating INSEE Ecocycle is that we look at the real impact and try to maximize that. The total volume of waste we have safely disposed of over the past 21 years totals over 1.2 million tons. Imagine dumping those volumes somewhere, resulting in another mountain of waste that creates numerous environmental, health, and social hazards. We are happy that we could eliminate those by adequately treating them and providing sustainable solutions.
On the other hand, we need a knowledge pool to tackle the technical and economic challenges within this space. Therefore, we employ a wide range of professionals from various backgrounds. That allows us to derive localized professional solutions tailor-made for the country context.
We also aim to enhance community awareness of waste management best practices, especially among the younger generation. Mismanagement is the main cause of the waste problem and associated issues. It will take time to change attitudes, but INSEE Ecocycle continues to do that. For example, in 2024, we conducted knowledge-building programmes for over 10,000 schoolchildren and adults in the community.
INSEE Ecocycle is hosting the International Conference on Resource Efficiency Towards Sustainability. Can you explain its objectives?
Climate change is an observable phenomenon occurring globally. Last year was the warmest year on the planet since we started measuring. Recent estimates indicate that global warming will increase temperatures by over 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, exceeding the earlier projection of 1.5 degrees. Immediate action is necessary, but addressing this issue requires collaboration, as neither individuals nor organizations can resolve it alone. Therefore, we are organizing the International Conference on Resource Efficiency Towards Sustainability on 06th March at Cinnamon Life Colombo.
This event is a platform for industry professionals, academics, and institutions to collaborate on advancing circularity and sustainable development. The programme includes pre-conference webinars to facilitate knowledge sharing on sustainability topics and a circularity challenge to encourage innovations to overcome technical and economic barriers to sustainability.
The conference is structured to provide substantive content and engage experienced professionals to enhance stakeholder collaboration. The pre-conference events have achieved successful outcomes, and we aim for a similarly impactful conclusion because, at Ecocycle, we believe that each of these actions would pave the path for creating a better future for the generations to come.