Sri Lanka promotes waste plastic recycling

Archiv – The Sri Lankan government has started to encourage plastic waste recycling in an effort to prevent the material piling up along the road side and causing environmental pollution. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) recently launched a program called the ’national post-consumer plastic waste management’.Sri Lanka | The Sri Lankan government has started to encourage plastic waste recycling in an effort to prevent the material piling up along the road side and causing environmental pollution. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) recently launched a program called the ’national post-consumer plastic waste management’.
A tax on plastic imports is being used to help fund the collection and recycling of the waste. Already several businessmen have started recycling plants and the government wants to improve the collection system. ’In countries like Japan and in Europe you don’t see plastic waste dumped on the road side ‘€’ they have an effective way of disposing and recycling,’ says Pasan Gunasena, Director General of the CEA. ’So it not the problem of plastics, it’s the system of how you manage the post consumer plastics.’
A tax on plastic imports is being used to help fund the collection and recycling of the waste. ’The money collected through the cess is given to the CEA as a fund to implement this project which explores the possibilities of disposal of plastics and polythene,’ says Gunasena.
The fund is now about 100 million Sri Lankan rupees (US$ 900 000) and the authorities hope that after the first year of operation, raw plastic imports could be reduced by 20%.
Sri Lanka imports 160 000 tonnes of plastic raw materials each month. The CEA wants to encourage people to segregate the plastic from other garbage to make it easier to collect and send for recycling. There are more than 120 plastic and polythene recyclers in the county.