Any water that is released from the factory will not harm the environment and the treatment plant will re-use 750 cubic meters water that is used in glass bottle making each day, the company said.

The company uses 20,000 tonnes of broken glass or 'cullet' as raw material each year. The glass pieces are collected from all over the Sri Lanka providing an income of 100 million rupees a year for people who supply them including low income earners.

Piramal Glass shifted its factory from Ratmalana, south of Colombo to Horana in 2007. The 40 million US dollar plant has a capacity of 250 tonnes of glass a day and can make 250 million bottles a year.

The firm sells 75 percent of its production to the local market and exports about 10 million dollars of glass containers.