Haycarb takes Gold Award in CSR at JASTECA Awards 2017 for ‘Puritas Sath Diyawara’

Haycarb Group Managing Director Rajitha Kariyawasan (left) together with Puritas Sath Diyawara Team and Chief Guest, Ceylon Biscuits Group Managing Director Sheamalee Wickramasingha together with patron members of JASTECA

The Hayleys Group continued to set new benchmarks in corporate social responsibility as its purification sector, Haycarb Plc won two awards at the recently concluded Japan Sri Lanka Technical and Cultural Association (JASTECA) Awards 2017. 

Drawing participation from some of Sri Lanka’s leading corporates, Haycarb PLC emerged as one of the nation’s true leaders in sustainability, winning the coveted Ian Dias Abeysinghe Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Gold Award in recognition of the lifesaving initiatives to provide clean drinking water to rural communities across the country for the flagship initiative: ‘Puritas Sath Diyawara’.

Additionally, Puritas Sath Diyawara also won the Special Award under the CSR category, securing further recognition for its groundbreaking initiative.

“Our team at Haycarb PLC is deeply honoured by the invaluable recognition expressed for the Puritas Sath Diyawara project at the recent JASTECA Awards 2017. We feel a deep sense of accomplishment at the life-saving support that this initiative has extended to water-stressed rural communities situated in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. 

“Moving forward, we remain firmly committed to the continued expansion of Puritas Sath Diyawara with the support of key sectors of the Hayleys Group in order to provide safe, clean, drinking water to the communities that need it most, complemented with further opportunities for enhancing income generation and education as our flagship CSR initiative,” Hayleys PLC Chairman and Chief Executive Mohan Pandithage stated. 

Launched in 2014 with the construction of its first Reverse Osmosis plant, Puritas Sath Diyawara has grown from strength to strength now covering 19 villages hit hardest by the epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain aetiology (CKDu) in Northern and North Central Provinces.

With its most recent Reverse Osmosis plant, Puritas Sath Diyawara now provides 160,000 litres of clean drinking water to over 33,000 men, women and children. 

“A key reason for the initiation of Puritas Sath Diyawara was as a response to the ravaging impact that CKDu was having on Sri Lanka’s rural communities with the patronage of key business sectors of the Hayleys Group.  This has been ably coordinated and executed by our fully owned environmental engineering arm, Puritas Ltd. While there has been significant research into this subject, it is still unclear what causes CKDu, and the only known pragmatic preventative measure is to ensure access to clean drinking water. 

“While  Puritas Sath Diyawara has expanded with great success from this initial stage, we remain deeply committed to assisting these communities that often times are directly responsible for feeding our nation,” Haycarb Group Managing Director Rajitha Kariyawasan said.      

Together with its vital water filtration facilities, the project also aims to support education among children in these communities, in addition to further initiatives aimed at Livelihood development.

Haycarb PLC is a world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of coconut shell activated carbon and a leader in environmental engineering solutions in the region. Accounting for over 16% of the global market share, the company has an annual capacity of over 45,000 metric tons of coconut activated carbon which it utilises to develop a highly innovative range of products with extensive applications in water and air purification, gold extraction, and other specialised areas, including preparations for the food and beverage industry. The group now diversifies into environmental engineering solutions through Puritas by taking lead in water and waste water treatment systems in the region.