Jetwing participated in a Beira Lake Cleaning Project on Saturday, 21st July 2018 in collaboration with “NOKUNU” – GUARDIANS OF THE CITY, a movement which is comprised of concerned individuals & organizations about the environment with the vision of making Sri Lanka, the cleanest country in Asia. Many associates of Jetwing Travels volunteered and worked tirelessly to make this project a success. This project initiated with a garbage collection session and a cleaning session that was carried out around the Bera Lake territory. The Jetwing associates were divided into groups and each group was handed over with a particular area to be cleaned. This was followed by an informative session where residents of Bera Lake territory were educated about garbage disposal best practices. Each group of Jetwing associates visited the residents with door to door personal visits and explained the environmental issues currently prevailing in Sri Lanka and how we can contribute toward making this better. As one initiative that can be done by the residents to contribute toward making Sri Lanka one of the cleanest countries in Asia, the Jetwing associates educated them regarding garbage disposal best practices with illustrations that could be easily understood. Not only that, buckets and bags were provided by the Jetwing associates to each of these houses so that they could start sorting out the garbage in a manner which support the recycling processes.

As declared by “NOKUNU” foundation, the vision of this project is to build a system of civic engagement that will help Sri Lanka become the cleanest country in Asia. One city at a time, we will move cleaning up and educating citizens from city to village, to beach, to forest and farm, from house to house and shop to shop and company by company.

The banks of the Beira are littered all over, and the waters are very badly polluted. The SL Port Commission owns the lake and is maintained by the SLLRDC under the Ministry of Megapolis who has already taken many steps, to find a lasting solution to make this very valuable asset an active and clean lake to all of us residents. Until then, there is an urgent need to clean and maintain it until the end of 2019 — a period of 18 months or earlier, when the Megapolis will commence the major dredging project of the Beira and prevent illegal drainage, sewerage, which has been diverted into this lake for the last fifty years or so! (“NOKUNU” Foundation)

“Respecting the environment around us is a part of the Jetwing DNA. Our roots begin in Negombo, a coastal city once shunned by the big time Tour Operators and their local counterparts as “dirty”. I recall the humiliation that our founder and his team at the time was subjected to. Jetwing resolves to make the beaches and the environment around clean and sustainable has paid rich dividends. This has permeated to all units of Jetwing including the Travels team. We are humbled to be associated with the No Kunu campaign to ensure us and the residents work together to keep our surroundings clean, separate and dispose of garbage appropriately thus making Colombo one of the cleanest cities in Asia. Our team is excited and committed to share our experiences with our neighbors and take them along in this journey” – Shiromal Cooray: Managing Director, Jetwing Travels