A commitment to kindness to people and nature
SUSTAINABILITY AT DILMAH
We started our sustainability journey in 2000, since then we have eliminated
442,104 Kg of plastics. The biodegradability of our tea bags varies from
98% 100 % to
850 kW 2300 tonnes of CO2 45500
Our Founder made a commitment to the purpose beyond profit. A minimum 15% of our pretax profits directly benefit people and planet. Until 2019 it was 10%, and in response to the social and environmental challenges the world faces, our founder increased our commitment to humanity, by 50%. These funds are generated by Dilmah Tea and our allied business are used by our MJF Foundation and Dilmah Conservation to directly, efficiently and effectively fulfill the philosophy of making business a matter of human service.
We established of hydro & solar power, saving
the same as growing
trees.
100%
A Carbon Neutral Product since 2017, becoming Carbon Negative from our Tea Gardens to destination port by
2030
.
Inspiring sustainability through advocacy Our installation of bipolar units results in a
Our beach cleanups have
Ink reduction of %
removed
9800 kg
of waste from sensitive ecosystems.
to scale up our commitment to Nature, we established and fund Biodiversity Sri Lanka, a collaboration amongst Dilmah Conservation, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce in forming Biodiversity Sri Lanka.
germ-free environment for both products and people Read more on page 10
45-50
in our packaging contribute towards increasingly sustainable packaging.
At BSL we share best practices, to encourage and support businesses in protecting biodiversity and acting sustainably. Participant Member
OUR PURPOSE fulfilling a philosophy of kindness to people and nature
Planted 1 Mn cashew trees, annually contributing over LKR 2 Mn to the eastern economy
Supporting 3500+ differently abled children through the Rainbow Centre
Uprooted tea plants in degraded tea plantation to initiate a 3 km-long nature corridor
Empowering 2000 women through the Women’s Development Programme
First open-air butterfly garden in Sri Lanka, home to 50 species of butterflies
Educating & empowering 3900+ youth through the Empower Culinary School and vocational training
Safeguarding 50 Kms of Sri Lankan coastline through the Beach Caretaker Programme
Scholarships for 500+ individuals through the MJF Scholarship Programme
First urban arboretum established with more than 500 plant species
Donated equipment worth LKR 64 MN, strengthening the healthcare sector during COVID
Provision for 517 plantation, non-worker and staff families affected by COVID-19
Supported the Department of Wildlife to gazette Kayernkerni coral reef as a marine sanctuary
Established Sri Lanka’s first dedicated research station for climate change (led by a corporate)
Providing care and welfare for over 2,000 children of Dilmah tea garden workers daily through Child Development Centres.
Initiated Bee a Keeper project to protect, research and educate about precious wild bees.
Empowering over 2000 small entrepreneurs for better livelihoods
OUR SUSTAINABILITY CULTURE, SINCE 2000 Over the last 21 years we have reached significant milestones in our packaging and business sustainability journey, trailblazing packaging innovations within our industry
2000
Began the process of eliminating the plastic in our tea packs by introducing a tear strip design
2019
All inner cartons were delivered by suppliers, wrapped in kraft paper, which has now been discarded. And 75% of inner cartons have switched to reusable corrugated inner cartons and a system is in place to return them to suppliers.
Packaging Breakthrough: Pyramid tea bags changed to PLA - a plant-based material.
2007
Eliminated 421,052 Kgs of plastic from packaging Production lines were converted to use 100% PLA based filter paper in 2020
2020
2010
Packaging that contains 10 tea envelopes (10E) was changed to include a window to reduce material usage
2021
2015
Eliminated the plastic overwrap in 80% of tea packs using tear strip design
Environmental impact of end-product included in the selection criteria when investing in new machinery.
2018
Continuous material reduction measures in tea tags, bags and packs.
2011
Switched from tin tea caddies to paper canisters in 3 SKUs launched in Australia as part of a wider process of migration to compostable materials (see page 9) Reduced ink usage in our outer cartons (corrugated) by 45% to 50% per year (see page 10)
While celebrating the achievements in packaging sustainability during the past two decades, this year we have
Enhanced customer communications on material identification and disposability Introduced a thread knot fitting unit to one of the existing machine lines (C23), eliminating the staple used to attach tea bags to the tag Invested in staple-free, 100% compostable tea bag machines Café range (see page 9)
OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING Investment in research, development and adoption of the most environmentally friendly packaging technology for our products since 2000
TEA BAGS ARE
98%
biodegradable
ALL INNER
CARTONS ARE recyclable & compostable
ALL OUTER
CARTONS ARE recyclable & compostable
ALL TIN
CADDIES ARE recyclable
ALL PRODUCTS ARE ETHICAL AND carbon neutral
Product Range
Format
Tea Bag
Overwrap
DILMAH PREMIUM TEA
Paper Envelopes
98% Compostable
Recyclable
Foil Envelopes
98% Compostable
String & Tag
Reaching from 98% to 100% Compostable
Tagless
Reaching from 98% to 100% Compostable
GOURMET TEA
Envelopes
98% Compostable
HERBAL INFUSIONS
String & Tag
98% Compostable
Exotic /Fun Tea
Envelopes
99% to 100% Compostable
(English Breakfast & Earl Grey)
CEYLON GREEN TEA
Recyclable
Recyclable
Recyclable
String & Tag
EXCEPTIONAL TEA
Envelopes
100% Compostable
t-SERIES
String & Tag
100% Compostable
Recyclable
VIVID TEA SELECTION
100% Compostable
Recyclable
SILVER JUBILEE
100% Compostable
Recyclable
100% compostable tea bags
CARBON NEUTRAL DILMAH Carbon Neutral in 2018 - Carbon Negative by 2030
PRODUCT
2017
2019
2020
Peliyagoda factory and head office certified as carbon neutral
Dilmah achieves carbon neutrality for the facility and all products up to Australia shelf
Dilmah achieves carbon neutrality for the facility and all products up to the destination ports of all overseas markets
ISO 14067:2018
ISO 14067:2018 ISO 14064-1:2018
ISO 14064-1: 2006
DILMAH’S JOURNEY TO CARBON NEUTRALITY
2018
2020
2020
Dilmah achieves carbon neutrality for all products and factories
Dilmah achieves carbon neutrality for the event School of Tea
Carbon Footprint Calculation mode digitalised
ISO 14064-1: 2006
CARBON NEGATIVE BY 2030 Investing in renewable energy, sustainable materials and optimising our plant and processes to be Carbon Negative by 2030
CARBON NEGATIVE BY 2030 Investing in continuous improvements to be carbon negative by 2030
6000 kW
41 %
68 %
136 % 5529 kW
2750 kW
1000 kW
2779 kW
1660 kW 1090 kW 809 kW
2022
%
Reliance on Renewable Energy
2025
Cumulative capacity
2030
Capacity of Solar panels to be installed
KINDNESS TO PEOPLE AND NATURE Our efforts towards benefiting people and the planet have contributed to Dilmah becoming a 100% carbon neutral product since 2018
WASTE TO CRAFT
RESTORING ECOSYSTEMS
DILMAH UPCYCLING
• Expanding towards a circular economy • Converting factory generated waste into creative objects by applying the principle of designing out waste and pollution.
• Organised beach and wetland cleanups around the country • Over 10 tonnes of plastic and non-biodegradable waste collected • Three cleanups led by Dilmah Tea staff
Last financial year Dilmah upcycled over 8x more of its packaging into other useful items
3
%
2018/2019
BENEFITING PEOPLE...
THE BEACH CARETAKER PROGRAMME
Strengthening local coastal communities
50
BENEFITING THE PLANET
1500
women entrepreneurs supported through the Small Entrepreneurship Programme (SEP) and Women’s Development Programme (WDP)
Over beach caretakers appointed
Keeping
2019/2020
Over
Creating public-private partnerships
50
25
%
kms of the island’s coast clean
1965 1506 5307
Empowered small entrepreneurs to date individuals have received vocational training
At our One Earth Centers we have educated
25,000+
people
beneficiaries were trained in FY 2019/20
ALL OUR INITIATIVES COLLECTIVELY CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS ACHIEVING 11 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)
We established Sri Lanka’s first corporate owned Climate Change Research & Adaptation Centre in
2017, 14
powering
national & international research initiatives at present
STATE OF THE ART RISK MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Our commitment to Taste, Goodness and Purpose extends to our people and their families
THE ASSURANCE OF QUALITY a commitment to achieving the highest standards for manufacturing, materials and process excellence THE COMPANY IS CERTIFIED IN COMPLIANCE WITH
ISO 9001:2015
To safeguard our premises from bacteria and viruses we have Implemented an ionisation system, resulting in enhanced safety of our people, workplace and products. This provides additional safety from COVID-19 as well.
We abide by the pillars of labour, health and safety, environment and business ethics guidelines laid out in SMETA.
Quality Management System
Environmental Management System
ISO 14001:2015
Food Safety Management system
FSSC 22000
BRC Global Standard Food Safety
Rainforest Alliance Chain of Custody
Organic product certifications – EU
Organic product certifications USDA NOP
Organic product certifications – JAS
While complying with other global standards and certifications we abide by the guidelines laid out by SMETA under the pillar of labour; and have the following in place: • Human rights policy addressing supply chain, community and stakeholder engagement, valuing diversity, freedom of association and collective bargaining, safety and health at the workplace, workplace security, child labour, work hours, wages and benefit and guidance and reporting for employees • Anti-bribery and corruption policy • Employee contract/agreements complying with local laws • Compensation and benefits policy • Communicating policies and procedures of the facility to all employees • Training sessions including induction and refresher courses • Internal audits to monitor level of compliance with social compliance standards • A compliance officer has been appointed • Free personal protective equipment for workers • Formal grievance handling procedures in place Our health and safety committee Includes 25% of worker representation
We have a comprehensive and updated package in place that includes SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit)
Along with other global standards and certifications
2021 HIGHLIGHTS… We are designing products that are more sustainable, reduce waste and eliminate plastic
CAFÉ RANGE In 2021, we launched a café range which is fully biodegradable. (Paper envelopes and biodegradable teabags)
NUMBER OF IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS BEING STUDIED IN FY 2020/2021
The café line can be experienced in 8 variants:
10 projects
5 projects
Production efficiency process improvement
Wastage reduction
Approx.
40 projects which linked up with
25 projects Material Source reduction
Replaced tin caddies in our Dilmah Inspirations range with paper-based canisters in 3 stock keeping units (SKUs). Launched in Australia this range is available for loose leaf tea
2021 HIGHLIGHTS… IMPROVING ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING In our efforts to introduce environmentally sustainable packaging, continuous research is carried out on biodegradability and compostability of packaging in both home and industrial composting environments which aid us in sourcing suitable materials
IMPLEMENTED AN IONISATION SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED HEALTH AND SAFETY DURING COVID Bipolar Ionisation system Our installed Bipolar Ionization units produce Bio–Climate Negative Ions (The Air Vitamin) to proactively destroy any unhealthy microorganism by damaging the cells of the viruses and reacting with protein of the virus, and then deactivate the virus.
Home Composting
Industrial Composting Plasma Air’s ionisers use proactive air purification technologies to safely deactivate airborne viruses.
Bipolar ionisation creates millions of negative ions, a proven method of virus destruction.
On our Sustainable journey in material source reduction, Dilmah had conducted an in-depth evaluation in DPI values and successfully reduced ink consumed for corrugated outer in-house printing by 45% to 50% per annum.
ENHANCING CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS on material identification and disposability
Recent tests by the Spanish government show that Plasma Air products have been proven to reduce Covid-19 surrogate by 99% airborne and 80% on surfaces.
VOTED SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPIONS By independent, expert committees including the International Chamber of Commerce, and Trusted Brands in New Zealand, Australia & Asia
Voted Trusted Brand (Tea category) - Reader’s Digest survey
New Zealanders have voted Dilmah their Most Trusted Tea Brand 7 years in a row, in the Reader’s Digest survey
• Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2020 Winner - Category B
• Emerged as one of the Top 10 Corporate Citizens under both categories A & B
• Category Awards Environment Beyond the Business
• Category Awards Customer Relations
In Australia Voted “Product of the Year 2020” for Dilmah brand Natural Infusions Top 10 - Most Admired Companies of Sri Lanka announced by The International Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (ICCSL), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Daily FT.
In Australia Voted “Product of the Year 2021” for Dilmah brand Inspirations tea selection
More than anything, at Dilmah, we believe in being kind. Kindness is at the heart of everything we do. We spread kindness by doing everything with care and respect. This means respecting nature - growing only the finest ingredients and protecting the environment. Respecting our workers providing them with good working conditions and fair wages for their efforts. Respecting our customers - we do not mix our teas. We uphold the highest standards and do not compromise quality to enhance profit. We make the best tea in the world and use our earnings to support those that need that little bit of kindness the most.
Merrill J. Fernando, Founder of Dilmah
to learn more about Dilmah Tea, our philosophy and purpose, please visit us at www.dilmahtea.com.