Lankans sitting on growing plastic time bomb

Alarming statistics have surfaced regarding the dismal state of plastic recycling in Sri Lanka during a recent meeting of the parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development.

It was revealed that only four percent of plastics was recycled.

Sri Lanka produces 938 metric tons of plastic daily. Only 32 percent of this amount is recycled.

It was also revealed that industrialists had been allowed to import secondary plastic without any regulatory framework. In response, the Sectoral Oversight Committee directed the Central Environmental Authority to regulate licences based on industry needs moving forward.

Officials also disclosed that Sri Lanka annually imported 400,000 tonnes of plastic raw materials and 20,000 tonnes of waste plastic. Although it had been permitted to import only 20,000 tonnes of waste plastic last year, about 5,179 tonnes were imported. The Committee recommended aligning import permissions with industry requirements and putting in place a mechanism to ensure that used plastic was collected systematically.

In response to the officials’ complaint that plastic remained uncollected after use due to high costs involved in collecting it, the Committee proposed incentivising plastic collection to bolster participation.

The Committee emphasized the urgent need to set up dedicated plastic collection centres across the country.

MPs Ajith Mannapperuma and Akila Ellawala, along with officials from the Ministry of Environment and the Central Environmental Authority, were present at the meeting.