BOI signs agreement with Greenkeepers

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) signed an agreement with Greenkeepers (Pte) Ltd. Chairman/Director General Dhammika Perera signed the agreement on behalf of the BOI and presented the investor with the BOI certificate of registration.

The agreement is for a project to set up an Export Trading House to source industrial waste material. It will recycle, process and export identified waste to recycling plants across the globe.

The Company will also focus on exporting organic food items as well as environmentally friendly products such as coconut-coir/shell based products from Sri Lanka to global markets.

In the area of waste material export, the company will work closely with the BOI factories that manufacture garments, tyres and rubber based products and subsequently will move to other types of waste that can be recycled.

Greenkeepers Ltd commenced operations on July 8. The venture is an investment of US $ 100,000, which will create over 30 employment opportunities at their processing house at Wattala.

The project will benefit the country, as it will dispose much industrial waste in a very environmentally friendly manner.

It will also help the BOI and manufacturing houses by providing a solution to the waste produced by factories. Foreign exchange will also be earned by the sale of this waste in addition to the creation of new jobs.

The company will work closely with local authorities, enterprises and Government officials in sourcing the waste.

In the long term, Greenkeepers plan to extend their operation to the whole country by setting up their own waste management plant with their strategic partners.

These partners who own and manage recycling plants across the globe view Sri Lanka as an investment friendly nation that is strategically located in comparison to other countries in the Indian Subcontinent. These factors favour future investments.

For the success of this operation what is needed is an efficient flow of material in the supply chain to achieve the level of capacity needed to operate the machines. Most importantly, waste material should reach the processing centres in a form that suits the recycling process.

This would ensure that the waste management is a streamlined process that would replace the current practice of directing most of the waste to dump yards.

Whilst there may be some difficulties in changing the mindset of people in the area of waste disposal from factories, this is a very beneficial project for the country.

“All these areas of streamlining will be initiated at Phase -1 of the BOI zone in Katunayake where sourced material will be exported until we are ready to recycle locally and to export value added products out of recycled material at a future date”, said one of the Directors of the company.

Managing Director Edward Fernando signed the agreement on behalf of the company.