A bill assigning the collection of sold plastic-polythene to the manufacturer

Deputy Minister of Environment, Anton Jayakody, states that a new environmental act will be introduced soon, which will place the full responsibility of collecting plastic and polythene after use, once released to the market, on the respective manufacturers. He also mentioned that steps would be taken to initiate a broad discussion on this new act in Parliament during the upcoming parliamentary session, following the next session.

The Deputy Minister revealed this while participating in a special program organized at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya auditorium, to educate schoolchildren, coinciding with World Environment Day. Concurrently, as a step to encourage the tourism industry, ten environmentally friendly electric vehicles were donated to the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens under the Deputy Minister's initiative, which will allow local and foreign tourists to travel and explore the garden with ease.

Through the new act, a strict legal framework will be created for plastics and polythene under the extended producer responsibility (EPR) to protect the environment. Accordingly, after the act is passed, manufacturers will have the mandatory responsibility to collect 40% of their production in the first year, 60% in the second year, and 80% in the third year, and so on. Since serious problems such as clogged drains have arisen due to plastic bottles and polythene discarded by consumers entering water bodies, the main objective is to control this situation and recycle the collected plastic for new products.