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7. Resplendent Ceylon Stepping Up Its Sustainable Initiatives

As Sri Lanka's foremost boutique luxury hospitality brand, Resplendent Ceylon, with its three resorts delves into the culinary, natural, and cultural heritage of the island with a fascinating and sustainable approach year-round.

“Business is a matter of human service.” is one of the pillars that define the Ceylon ethos – it is the mantra of Mr. Merrill J Fernando, Chairman, and Founder of parent company Dilmah.

The national parks and forest reserves, the ocean, the heritage sites, the recipes, crafts and folklore, and most importantly - the people who preserve with them centuries of history and heritage, need to be protected and conserved.

Beholding responsibility and approach towards not just their ethos but the environment, three major resorts at Resplendent Ceylon: Wild Coast Tented Lodge, Cape Weligama, and Ceylon Tea Trails have undeniably risen to the occasion.

WILD COAST TENTED LODGE

• 155kva solar plant meets 30% of the resort’s energy needs during high occupancy periods.
• Tents are made from a unique fabric to manage temperature to reduce air-conditioning needs
• All of the water used in the resort is taken from the ocean and passed through a desalination unit and then pumped round the resort.
• All food waste is converted into cooking gas and organic manure.
• The Lodge supports leopard research by partnering with Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust.
• Shared jeeps for game drives to reduce our carbon foot-print in the park.
• No disposable packaging is used for refreshments on game drives and excursions, reducing waste footprint further.
• The public areas are constructed of sustainable bamboo and reclaimed recycled teak shingles.

CAPE WELIGAMA

Promoting Community Sustainability, the MJF Cape Weligama Centre is the first center fully supported by Resplendent Ceylon assisting the community living around the hotel. The MJF Centre at Cape Weligama is the only center of its kind supported by a company.

It currently consists of an MJF Kids programme providing educational support, scholarships, music, art, dancing, chess and pottery for children aged 13 and below.

Resplendent's “good works” initiatives (funded entirely by our staff) include several projects a year. In 2019, the staff contributed essential items to a cancer hospital in Weligama. They also gave the charming Weligama Railway Station a facelift with a fresh coat of paint and installed some colourful posters of old Ceylon around the station.

CEYLON TEA TRAILS

Ceylon Tea Trails has the smallest carbon footprint of the three resorts. Here's why:

• No air-conditioning is required as the climate is naturally cool.
• Tea Trails, in partnership with Dilmah Conservation, supports the Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust in its leopard research project.
• All food waste goes to a local piggery, avoiding landfills in the hill country.
• We use glass bottles and next to no use of plastic
• We support the MJF Crèche, a daycare centre for the children of tea pluckers and factory workers.

Like every year, Resplendent Ceylon strives to leverage the pioneering corporate structure to deliver meaningful sustainable outcomes, just as they are.