Cleantech powers young innovators as main sponsor of EcoFix’26

Highlighting a significant boost for youth-led environmental action, Cleantech Ltd., Sri Lanka’s premier integrated waste management and environmental solutions provider, has joined forces with the Rotaract Club of the University of Kelaniya (RACUOK) as the Main Sponsor of EcoFix’26, a school-level waste management innovation competition.

EcoFix’26 is a core component of Phase 02 of Harithaswara 1.0, a flagship environmental sustainability project organised by the Environmental Service Avenue of RACUOK under the theme ‘Preserve | Protect | Restore’. The competition brings together seven schools tasked with developing practical, sustainable, and impactful solutions to aid real-world waste management challenges. With entries evaluated by a professional panel from industry and academia, the winning entry will need to display the highest form of innovation, feasibility, sustainability, and community impact.

Cleantech’s partnership with the Rotaract Club of the University of Kelaniya stands as a direct investment in Sri Lanka’s next generation of environmental problem-solvers, and EcoFix’26 embodies what Cleantech stands for, turning waste challenges into innovation opportunities. “By empowering school-level changemakers today, we are building the circular economy workforce of tomorrow,” a spokesperson for Cleantech mentioned.

The sponsorship carries strategic weight beyond the competition itself. It serves as the inaugural public milestone of Planet Pioneers, the University Program, Cleantech’s flagship initiative to establish systematic e-waste collection infrastructure across four leading Government universities: the University of Colombo, University of Kelaniya, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and University of Moratuwa. 

The University of Kelaniya partnership marks the very first step of this national mission, making EcoFix’26 a launchpad for a broader movement to embed responsible electronics disposal and circular economy thinking within Sri Lanka’s academic institutions. This initiative also bridges the gap between academia and industry, with plans to launch an ideathon series encouraging collaboration in science and engineering aspects to develop real-time waste management solutions, including microplastics and e-waste management initiatives.

This approach will help create active engagement among the next generation of the country while fostering innovative and sustainable environmental solutions.

Harithaswara 1.0 will operate across four structured phases addressing the country’s most urgent environmental challenges. Beyond the waste management and pollution control efforts of Phase 02, which include e-waste collection points, a Trash2Cash recycling machine, and awareness programmes. The project also encompasses wetland restoration in Muthurajawela, Attidiya, and Bellanwila; human-elephant conflict mitigation using pilot bee sound and alarm systems in affected villages; and reforestation drives employing both Miyawaki and traditional techniques. The initiative will culminate in a documentary which will cover the entire Harithasawa effort.

For Cleantech, which functions as part of the Abans Group of companies, this partnership reflects an in-depth alignment with core brand values: sustainability and community development. The company, through this initiative, will gain visibility across 80+ Rotaract Clubs nationally and multiple school communities, while simultaneously demonstrating practical leadership in e-waste management and the circular economy.

As EcoFix’26 unfolds, Cleantech and the Rotaract Club of the University of Kelaniya invite the public to watch for updates on the competition’s winning innovations, which are solutions that may one day scale into the very waste management systems Sri Lanka urgently needs.