- Extended producer responsibility to be incorporated
The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) is to amend the National Environmental Act to include extended producer responsibility, which is a strategy used to add all of the estimated environmental costs associated with a product throughout the product’s life cycle, in order to manage plastic and polythene waste in Sri Lanka, The Daily Morning learnt.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (8), the Director General of the CEA, Hemantha Jayasinghe said that this system would address the issues related to the waste management field and make the manufacturers more accountable to the relevant authorities regarding waste management.
He also said that the CEA, with the help of the Ministry of Environment, has already commenced working voluntarily according to the strategies of extended producer responsibility until it gets included in the said Act. “The CEA has been looking into many programmes and strategies that can be used to minimise plastic and polythene usage while managing the waste properly. Therefore, we looked for a system where we can do the waste management within the product’s life cycle. Then, we understood that we can use this strategy in Sri Lanka for the waste management process and it will also be helpful in making manufacturers more responsible in this regard,” he said. Bringing an example, Jayasinghe said that if we take a plastic bottle manufacturer, he/she should keep records on the number of manufactured bottles, how many bottles have been collected by the people and how many bottles have been recycled, until the final disposal. He said that through this method, the manufacturer has to be responsible for his/her product until it gets disposed of.
He further said that the manufacturers do not respond well to this system and that therefore, this programme would only be successful if they contribute their best.
However, CEA Chairman Supun Pathirage had recently said that the CEA has found that no proper management had been conducted for the projects carried out by certain parties to control the improper disposal of plastic and polythene waste during the past six months. He had also said that certain planned plastic and polythene waste projects that had been conducted by local and international non-governmental organisations and industries had failed due to mismanagement.