Preserving the scenic charms of sandy shores

Sri Lankan beaches were once considered as some of the pristine and attractive beaches in the world. Without a doubt it also contributes to the national economy immensely but due to poor management and irresponsible practices these natural wonders have become polluted and unattractive. As part of the airline’s ‘planet friendly SriLankan’ ideology and as a leading contributor to Sri Lanka tourism, SriLankan Airlines always takes timely actions with regards to preserving its environment.

The SriLankan Airlines’ environment unit organised a beach clean-up programme on 3rd April 2021 at the PreethiPura Beach, Handala. This was a staff engagement programme focused on cleaning close to 2 km of shoreline along the western seaboard of the island. The Sri Lanka Coastal Conservation department and the Sri Lanka Coast guard joined hands with the national carrier to support this effort. Also, this programme marks the first beach clean-up and setting the stand for the sequence of beach clean-up programmes planned for the year by the SriLankan Environment unit.

Despite the beating sun and the Easter weekend, the volunteers were determined to carry out the mission, where they collectively removed over 350kgs of plastics, polythene, and other waste from the coastline within a short time frame.

At a time of desperate need, under the leadership of SriLankan Airlines CEO, Mr. Vipula Gunatilleka along with the members of SriLankan family, showed the value of team spirit, unity, and the importance of preserving the environment to the community.