Dipped Products’ ‘Firstlight’ wins Gold | Sunday Observer

Dipped Products’ ‘Firstlight’ wins Gold

12 March, 2017

Dipped Products PLC, Hayleys Group’s glove manufacturing subsidiary, emerged winners of the Ian Dias Abeysinghe Memorial CSR/Sustainability award at the Japan-Sri Lanka Technical and Cultural Association (JASTECA) Awards 2016 recently.

The Gold award was presented to DPL in recognition of the Company’s efforts to develop one of the world’s first ethical rubber gloves manufactured using ‘Fair Trade’ principles that ensure that the rubber is sustainably and ethically sourced from smallholder farmers. The Firstlight program was launched in 2007 in the Moneragala district. DPL Managing Director, Dr. Mahesha Ranasoma said, “Corporate social responsibility is a vital component in the success of Dipped Products and the Hayleys Group of companies.

Through a dedicated team effort, we have been able to achieve widespread international recognition for the quality of our products while adding even greater value through our pioneering ‘Fair Trade’ model.”

”We hope that these efforts will demonstrate how powerful CSR strategies can be incorporated into a successful business model in order to add further value to the end consumer in an ethical and sustainable manner,” he said.

Firstlight started with four farmers in 2007. By 2008, the base increased to 148 farmers who contributed 12% of the field latex supply to DPL.

By 2016, the farmer base had grown over 10-fold to 1,620 and their contribution to DPL’s field latex requirement has grown toover 45% of the total requirement. 

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