By Ifham Nizam

Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that he disagreed with the claim by a foreign organization that Sri Lanka is the fifth biggest ocean polluter of plastic and polythene.

“I don’t agree with this assertion. Despite the population, Sri Lanka is less polluted than other countries in the region. There are cities in this part of the world that are a hundred times more populous than Colombo. However, it’s true that the use of polythene and plastic is increasing in Sri Lanka in comparison to the population of the country,” he told The Sunday Island.

He paid a tribute to Roshan Abeysundera of the Sri Lanka Air Force who set a world record by swimming across the Palk Strait with the message that polythene and plastic should not be dumped into the ocean.

The Minister presented an environmental brand ambassador award to the airman in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards preserving the environment.

“The other day, I had a discussion with the top management of Sri Lanka’s supermarket sector, where they said one billion silicon bags are used by them per year. This is no small feat. The damage done to the environment as a result is enormous,” he stressed.

“I asked them to charge customers at least one rupee per bag without giving them free of charge, as done now. This will make people reuse the bags. The supermarkets agreed to donate the proceeds to an environmental fund. However, we have still not taken a final decision in this regard,” he added.

Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that uses lunch sheets. Ten million lunch seats are used on a daily basis in the country. In the future, the Environment Ministry will introduce stringent measures to reduce the use of silicon bags and lunch sheets, he remarked.