By Saman Indrajith

A decision by the yahaplana regime to remove a cess on importing plastics had resulted in local markets being flooded with two billion kilos of plastics worth around Rs. 549 billion during the past five years, Parliament was told yesterday.

 Responding to a question raised by SLPP MP Mohamed Muzammil, State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that between 2015 and 2019 a total of 2,102,262,948 kilos of plastics had been imported into the country at a cost of Rs 549,991,640,147 from 47 countries.

 MP Muzammil said that plastic products were a threat to the environment and they took around 400 years to decompose. Sachets and polythene packets dumped after their use especially as wrappers or bags posed a serious threat to the environment. The MP asked whether the government would be able to introduce a substitute to plastics at a time local industries had come forward with alternative solutions.

Minister Cabraal said that he welcomed the opinion of the MP and promised that he would take up the issue with his ministry officials to find an environment friendly solution.

Asked whether the government would consider re-imposing the cess on plastic importations so that the local businessmen promoting plastic products would be discouraged, the Minister said that too would be taken into account at his next meeting with his officials of the ministry.