Application of Cleaner Production Techniques in Tea Processing

Abstract

Tea is the world’s most popular beverage (Anonymous, 1993). Sri Lanka is a world famous tea producer, well known for its inherited taste and aroma and it is the world’s fourth largest producer of tea and the industry is one of the country's main sources of earning foreign exchange with tea accounting for I .S% of the GDP, generating roughly $700 million annually (Dissansyske, 2008). However, during last few decades, the sustainable growth of Sri Lankan tea industry had to face challenges (Jayakodi and Athauda, 2009). In today’s dynamic and turbulent environment, industry survival and growth depends on appropriate technology integration and changing management practices. lt was identified that the Sri Lankan tea industry with a history of over a century is facing global challenges requiring certain changes to the technology, work practices, work norms and attitudes to overcome problems faced at present (Senarathne el al., 2004). Sri Lanka’s COP has been recording steady increases and is now around US 1.7•î per kg, which is well above that of Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Vietnam. Possible ways of enhancing profitability are to fetch attractive prices for their produce, increase their productivity level and to reduce the COP (Yogaratnam, 2007). To address these issues, reduction of wastage and increasing resource efficiency using cleaner production techniques will be possible. Cleaner production is the continuous application of an integrated preventive strategy to processes, products and services, to increase eco-efficiency and to reduce risks to humans and the environment. Cleaner production concept was first introduced by United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in 1989 as a new innovative approach to resource conservation and environment management (Jayakodi and Athauda, 2009). Cleaner production techniques are important in reducing wastage. Therefore this preliminary study is focused on cleaner Production audit in tca processing giving special reference to Telbedde Estate.