Abstract:
Environment and energy-related issues are global challenges. Frontier technologies such as automation, robotics, electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, biotechnologies and artificial intelligence present great opportunities for sustainable organizations and for humanity. Solid waste management and renewable energy industry play a vital role, helping save energy, money and time, increasing life expectancy, reducing carbon emissions, automating manual and repetitive tasks, creating jobs, improving quality of life and facilitating increasingly complex decision making. Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA), as a premier public sector training institute, has taken action to implement waste management and renewable energy and use energy-efficient and effective ways under the plan ‘SLIDA Goes Green’. SLIDA has initiated green initiatives to encourage island-wide action. It expects that participants who get knowledge and experience from SLIDA apply these in other institutes to encourage green initiatives. SLIDA has initiated four main green activities: solar power generation, compost generation, bio gas production, and glass bottles replacing plastic water bottles. SLIDA’s renewable energy technologies enable creating electricity, heat and fuel from renewable solar and bio-gas sources. Organic and yard wastes have been transformed into valuable products by establishing composting unit
on site that nourish soils and plants and generate additional income. Glass bottles offer additional health, flavor and environmental benefits over their plastic counterparts; glass is 100% recyclable and with unlimited reuse. This paper has provided useful guidelines for implementation of green activities in attaining sustainable organizations, reducing costs and enhancing a sustainable environment.