Sri Lanka exports electronic waste to Japan; why not value added? (Editorial)

Sri Lanka will export three tons of electric and electronic waste today to Japan, says Minister of Environment Mahinda Amaraweera. 

The waste was collected recently through a national drive early in October and the Minister says the programme will continue. However, the country lacks regular ways to collect e-waste. 

The Minister earlier said to Economy Next that the government expected to recycle some of the E-waste materials such as Iron, Aluminium and plastic which could be recycled in the country, while other materials which could not be dealt with in the country would be sent overseas. The recycling process within the country will be given to institutions which are registered under the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) which will also supervise the process, he says.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Industry Wimal Weerawansa is pushing for local industry and it is a wonder why the Ministry of Environment has not discussed with them to process and add value to these electronic waste. 

We hope the Ministry of Environment will continue this good move while the Ministry of Industry tries to liaise with them to process these electronic waste and add value to them before export.

The link is to the Licensed E-Waste collectors & Exporters in Sri Lanka. 

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After the Sri Lankan Surge

The war-torn island starts to see the benefits of defeating terrorists militarily. (Wall Street Journal Opinion)

(December 03, Colombo - Lanka Polity) While Washington debates President Obama's Afghan surge, another country not so far away offers a glimpse of the importance, and benefits, of getting it right. No, we don't just mean Iraq. Look also to Sri Lanka.
That island nation is just starting to recover from a 26-year civil war, which the government in Colombo won in May when it crushed the last remnants of the neo-Marxist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Colombo's year-long military offensive against the Tiger terrorists was controversial abroad and costly in blood and treasure on both sides at home.

The most obvious green shoot is the presidential election due for January 26. President Mahinda Rajapaksa called the vote two years earlier than expected hoping to ride a wave of majority-Sinhalese nationalism back into office. Instead he's facing a surprise challenger in General Sarath Fonseka, the military commander who won the war.

Neither candidate is perfect by a long stretch, but the mere fact of competition could benefit ethnic minorities. With Mr. Rajapaksa and Gen. Fonseka splitting the Sinhalese vote, each candidate will need to court Tamils and Muslims.

This is creating political incentives to hasten resettlement of the upward of 250,000 Tamils displaced by fighting in the Northern Province earlier this year. Roughly half of those have already returned home from the refugee camps, according to the United Nations. The government this week finally allowed greater movement in and out of the camps for those who remain.

Meanwhile Tiger extremists no longer menace moderate Tamils, who used to face regular intimidation. Incentives are now better aligned on all sides to resolve longstanding, legitimate Tamil grievances, such as Sinhalese preferences in university places and exclusion of Tamils from the police.

Whether the January vote will be free and fair is an open question. But the country is closer to resolving its problems than at any time since the Tigers started fighting in 1983. Sri Lanka isn't exactly analogous to Afghanistan. But the island does demonstrate the benefits of defeating terrorists on the battlefield.