Net polythene usage gone up after Sri Lanka's ban

(August 03, 2009 - Lanka Polity) A study in markets of Sri Lanka revealed that the laws introduced by the state since the beginning of 2007 to curtail the use of polythene had completely failed and it had caused rapid increase of net usage  this environmentally hazardous material. Although the manufacturing, sale and use of less than 20 micron thickness of polythene is illegal in Sri Lanka, they can be easily acquired from all the nooks and corners of the country including the IDP camps.

All the rhetoric of the then Minister of Environment Maithripala Sirisena to introduce alternates to 'shopping bags' led the country to nowhere and the packaging industry moved to use more polythene and plastic after the introduction of these regulations. Even the curd manufacturers that traditionally used earthen pots for packaging have begun to use plastic now.

Although there were around 300 polythene manufacturing factories by the time the laws were introduced, the number has escalated by tenfold within the two years of the implementation of laws, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources sources say.The Ministry lacks resources to monitor this expanded industry, they said.