CEA invests Rs 10 m in Matara and A'pura centres
Indunil HEWAGE
The Central Environmental Authority (CEA), will initially invest Rs
10 million to set up two waste collection centres in Matara and
Anuradhapura areas before the end of this year.
Currently, Sri Lanka has two state owned waste collection centres in
Balangoda and Kurunegala. In addition, CEA has plans to set up another
two waste collection centres in the North and North Central Province
before the end of 2013,” said Bandula Sarath Kumara, Project Director,
Central Environmental Authority’s National Post Consumer Plastic Waste
Management Project.
“Today plastic waste and garbage in Sri Lanka has become a major
problem and the recycling of contaminated plastic and garbage would be
an ideal solution to address this problem. E-waste is a growing problem
in the country which accounts to 4-5 tonnes every single day and Sri
Lanka imports 2 million metric tonnes of virgin materials per annum.
Sri Lanka government in collaboration with Central Environmental
Authority has initiated various projects to recycle unwanted plastic and
waste materials in the country. Domestic plastic processing industry is
presently around 140,000 metric tonnes per annum with an average growth
rate of around 10-12 %. Sri Lanka is exporting plastic products to a
large number of countries around the world.
However, USA is the dominant buyer of plastic exports over the past
number of years and nearly 40 % of the total exports go to the USA
market.
In Sri Lanka, around 400 companies are engaged in plastic processing
for both domestic and international markets.
A total Rs 15 billion has been invested in the industry. Almost 50 %
of this has come through foreign direct investments. The industry
processes many commodity plastics and engineering plastic using modern
technologies. |