Norlanka Manufacturing Trincomalee was recently awarded the prestigious LEED Gold Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).
Norlanka, one of Sri Lanka’s largest sustainable exporters of baby and kidswear, has an extensive ESG (Environmental/S ocial/Governance) strategy and understands the responsibility it has concerning the future of a sustainable apparel industry. Therefore, ethical sourcing, in particular working with responsible supply chain partners has been a critical operational necessity.
The LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement, and it is backed by an entire industry of committed organizations and individuals paving the way for market transformation. It’s awarded for projects that have earned points by adhering to prerequisites and credits that address carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health and indoor environmental quality. Buildings consume energy and resources at an alarming rate, therefore the LEED rating system is the most widely used green building rating system, as it provides a framework for healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving green buildings.
LEED takes multiple areas into account with varying sub-criteria when certifying a building such as location, transportation, sustainability of the site, construction, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resource, waste management, indoor environment quality, innovations and more.
Chief Innovation Officer of Norlanka, Buddhi Paranamana stated, “This LEED Gold certification is a testament to our constant drive to improve our sustainability efforts. This award marks yet another milestone in Norlanka’s journey towards becoming carbon neutral by 2025. Since 2010 we’ve constantly been learning how to do things in a more sustainable way. I would like to congratulate our team for obtaining this certification. It showcases dedication towards achieving sustainable excellence while achieving our goals and providing customers with high-quality products.”
Norlanka Manufacturing Trincomalee is a 56,000 sq ft facility with a workforce of 900, and has multiple sustainability projects that have assisted them in entering into the Gold Category such as carbon emission quantification and identifying emission hotspots to actively reduce the facility’s carbon footprint, renewable energy generation through solar panels and energy conservation with LED lighting systems and servo motors. Water conservation through rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharging with related awareness programs for partner factories, programs that focus on fresh air supply for the inside of the factory and motivating forms of green transportation for employees. Norlanka also tackled waste management and helped enrich livelihoods through circularity, their donations included fabric, cone plastic, paper and other forms of waste material to members of low-income families who used them to make toys and other small, tailored garments to be sold.
The Trincomalee facility is also certified under; ISO 14064 for carbon footprint quantification, HIGG FEM for environmental performance monitoring, GOTS and OCS as supply chain organic cotton certifications, GRS for maintaining global recycle standards, SMETA for ethical practices, OEKO-TEX 100 for high product safety standards and OKEO-TEX STeP for safe materials throughout the supply-chain.
Norlanka collaborates closely with over 35 partner factories throughout Sri Lanka and
offers confluent apparel solutions for more than 20 international fashion brands and
retailers, from design to delivery. As one of Sri Lanka’s top sustainable exporters of
baby and kidswear, and with activewear, casual wear, undergarments, and athleisure also in their product portfolio, the company ships over 40 million garments annually from these factories. Among the several global clients of Norlanka are John Lewis, Jack Wills, River Island, and Mamas & Papas
The company’s vision is to become the most globally sought-after and trusted fashion solution provider, giving its stakeholders growth opportunities by supplying innovative design and the best value through top-notch customer service.