Govt. to ban liquor in quarter bottles unless manufacturers get their act together

Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera on Tuesday vowed to ban liquor being sold in 180 ml (quarter) bottles considering the damage they inflicted on the environment.

Minister Amaraweera addressing officials of the Central Environmental Authority when he visited the CEA office in Battaramulla, after assuming duties, said the liquor companies sold liquor in 180 ml bottles made of glass or plastic. The consumers discarded them haphazardly after use. “The liquor companies do not collect them. They should be banned or the companies should collect those bottles for reuse or recycling. We can introduce a high tax under the polluter-pays-principle so that the companies will not get a profit by selling them.” Minister Amaraweera said that environment authorities and municipal cleaning agencies had pointed out that the need to introduce a new system to minimise environmental pollution caused by the discarded empty liquor bottles.

As per the available records over 300 million quarter liquor bottles had been purchased in 2019 from liquor shops, the minister said.

We should introduce a new system that encourages liquor consumers to return empty bottles instead of discarding them on the roadside.

As the first step under the new system, the liquor companies would be requested to provide a refund for every empty 180 ml alcohol bottle returned to any liquor outlet.

In addition to the quarter liquor bottles, the sachets containing shampoo, sauce and other products and small plastic bottles containing some products such as liquid blue used on white cloths too have become a threat to environment because the consumers discard them in a haphazard manner.

Secretary to the Ministry Dr. Anil Jasinghe was also present.