Steps are being taken to ban eight plastic and polythene related products including plastic garlands and string hopper trays, the Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said in Parliament.
Minister Amaraweera was speaking during the Budget Committee Debate on the Expenditure Heads of several Ministries including the Environment Ministry.
Minister Amaraweera said that reportedly, around 300,000 devotees visit Kataragama every year and take around 2,000 kilos of polythene garlands. “These garlands they discard on the ground or throw into the Menikganga, the Minister said. Minister Amaraweera said that the Government will encourage manufacturers to make garlands with natural or oilpaper flowers after the ban on plastic garlands.
Minister Amaraweera also said that the Government is promoting producing string hopper trays from natural raw materials instead of plastics. Ministry Officials have already identified possible programmes to popularise this product, the Minister added. Minister Amaraweera also said that shopping bags will be banned and an alternative bio-degradable bag will be introduced instead. He said that around 20 million shopping bags are released into the environment daily in Sri Lanka.
Minister Amaraweera also said that the Government’s decision to ban sachet packets is one of the best made to protect the environment. “During the discussions, I asked how many sachets are sold per day. Our country sells 960 million sachets a year. Globally, according to the Plastic Planet, 885 billion sachets are released into the environment each year.
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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