Mathaka keeps alive SriLankan memories
Ms. Anushika Priyadharshani, a mother of two and her husband from Hokandara sews numerous textile products for national carrier SriLankan Airlines as part of a unique initiative of upcycling products that helps to conserve the environment.
Proud to be part of a larger group of women who stitch for the House of Lonali that has partnered with the national carrier to manufacture products that help conserve the environment by reusing the large quantities of seat covers, cushion covers, curtains and blankets, she earns handsomely for the efforts she puts into developing these items.
This is “Mathaka” the groundbreaking upcycle project that emerged from a need to creatively minimise SriLankan’s ecological footprint by repurposing the airline’s scrap material into a variety of lifestyle products. The word itself is coined from the Sinhala word to remember so as to dedicate it to the memory of the SriLankan staff.
Project Mathaka beat 118 other submissions to win the Best Aviation Sustainability Programme Award at the recent Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum (SMBR) Global Aviation Awards.
SriLankan Manager Operations Capt. Naushad Liniyagoda addressing the media on Thursday said that the Mathaka project is aimed at making usable items out of the approximately 16 tonnes of discarded waste of the airline.
He noted that previously all these upcycled products would have to be imported whereas today they are manufactured in Sri Lanka itself.
This is part of the Green Revolution and the green flight that Capt. Liniyagoda operated for the first time from Colombo to Frankfurt.
Since then they did a lot of practical carbon emission reduction among other greening efforts, it was noted.
Items used on the airline usually have a life span of about five years, but today this has reduced further as a result of the impact of the COVID pandemic that compelled airlines to use a heavy amount of chemicals in maintaining cleanliness.
The future of these products will one day find their way to the Duty Free markets that will then see a new demand emerge.
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