By Maheesha Mudugamuwa The 240-odd containers of imported garbage, which created a major controversy last year, are yet to be repatriated and are lying at the Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) and the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ), The Sunday Morning learnt. "The court ordered to commence the repatriation process when the case was taken up in March on a request made by the Attorney General’s (AG) Department. But the final decision on the court case filed by the CEJ is still pending. Even after the containers are repatriated to its origin, the case will continue," Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Chairman Attorney-at-Law Ravindranath Dabare told The Sunday Morning. He said the court, when the case was taken up on 4 March, as per a request made by the AG Department, ordered the repatriation process of these containers to its origin – the UK. The next date for the case was on 3 April but had been postponed due to the coronavirus situation in the country, Dabare said, adding that the next date is yet to be fixed. According to him, the repatriation of garbage containers was one of the requests made by the CEJ to the court and the latter had not opposed to the repatriation process. “We can’t keep the garbage containers here as the waste inside them could come out and destroy the environment. Therefore, the garbage containers should be repatriated,” the CEJ Chairman noted. However, the court case would be continued despite the repatriation of the garbage containers as the culprits should be punished to avoid such incidents taking place in the future, Dabare added. Last year, Sri Lanka Customs (SLC) and the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) found that some private parties had imported around 241 container loads of waste to the country without the approval of the CEA, breaching the provisions of the Basel Convention. It was later revealed that the waste consignments were imported from the UK and were lying at the CICT and Katunayake FTZ since 2017. The CEJ filed a writ of Certiorari and Mandamus in the Court of Appeal requesting to order the CEA and SLC to conduct an investigation into the illegal importation of container loads of waste at the Port of Colombo and Katunayake FTZ, and to take legal action against the importer(s) under the provisions of the National Environmental Act and the Customs Ordinance to order the Government to draft new laws blocking imports of waste materials to Sri Lanka. The petition against the garbage consignments was filed by CEJ Executive Director Hemantha Withanage and named the CEA, SLC, and AG’s Department as respondents. However, the court previously instructed the Government Analyst’s Department to submit a report after inspecting the garbage consignments at both the Port of Colombo (111 containers) and the Katunayake FTZ (130 containers). When The Sunday Morning asked whether the Government Analyst’s Report had been submitted to court, CEJ Chairman Dabare stressed the report was still pending as they have informed the courts several times that they did not have enough facilities to conduct testing. “The inability to submit a Government Analyst’s report prior to the repatriation would be an issue, but leaving the containers lying at Colombo Port and Katunayake (FTZ) would be a serious threat to the environment,” Dabare added.