History of Ceylon Tea

A game-changing world-first in the sphere of packaging for bulk teas by Sri Lanka’s St. Regis Packaging can potentially enhance the environmental credentials of Ceylon Tea on the global stage.

The inventor of the Rigid-T-sack that replaced plywood chests in the bulk packaging of large leaf teas in 1996, St. Regis has received the world’s first ZeroCarbon® Product Certification in its category for the Company’s Rigid-T-Sacks as well as for Multiwall paper sacks used for the packaging of Leafy and Grainy Teas, the company said in a statement.

The certification means that Ceylon Tea packaged in these two types of St. Regis sacks for the Colombo Tea Auction or for export has offset the carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) of the packaging, reducing the overall product carbon footprint of the teas.

Significantly, St. Regis Packaging currently supplies sacks for over half the teas sold at the weekly Colombo Tea Auction, and this industry-first achievement could be a catalyst for greater interest in carbon footprint reduction for tea, Company Director Ajith Fernando said.

He said approximately six million packages are auctioned at the Colombo Tea Auction annually and this would be an ideal opportunity for Colombo to become the first tea auction in the world to start offering teas in carbon neutral packages.