Non-biodegradable polythene lunch sheets, etc., to be banned from Aug. 01

By Ifham Nizam

Biodegradable lunch sheets would be made compulsory from August 1, the Environment Ministry said yesterday.

A Cabinet Memorandum was signed yesterday announcing a ban on eight types of polythene and plastic products with immediate effect.

Accordingly, the list of products to be banned are as follows: single-use straws and stirrers, spoons, forks, yoghurt spoons and knives made of single plastic, volumes less than 400X 500 shopping bags, plastic string hopper trays, polythene packed incense sticks and wicks, plastic garlands, plastic cups and lunch sheets

Addressing the media yesterday at the Ministry of Environment, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that non-biodegradable lunch sheets made of polythene would be banned from the first of next month and their production and distribution would also be banned in the country.

He said steps would be taken to give a grace period of one month for the sale of lunch sheets which are currently in production.

The Central Environmental Authority and the Consumer Affairs Authority would continue to conduct raids to find out whether they are still being produced.

Minister said that the law would be strictly enforced against anyone who manufactured and distributed them in defiance of the ban.

According to the latest information released by the Central Environmental Authority, the use of daily lunch sheets in the country has increased.

Accordingly, the number of lunch sheets used here per day has increased to 12-15 million. And not even 1 percent of it is recycled and all lunch sheets purchased by the public are released into the environment.

There are currently alternatives to this. However, biochemical lunch sheets are currently manufactured by 10 factories. the minister said that if the factories tried to mislead the public and produce non-perishable lunch sheets, their production licences would be cancelled.

The Minister said that approval for the production of biodegradable lunch sheets would be given only to institutions registered under the Central Environmental Authority.