The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) has ordered to return the consignment of waste material imported to Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom.

The Director-General of CEA Hemantha Jayasinghe stated this issuing a media statement yesterday (19).

The footage of the piles of waste material shipped from the UK recorded during the observation visit made by the CEA at the Katunayake Export Processing Zone was released to the media.

The CEA revealed that this stock of waste material was imported by a private company located in the Katunayake Export Processing Zone under the approval of the Board of Investment (BOI) Sri Lanka.

It is reported that this company has been importing used mattresses, carpets and other industrial waste and reimporting them from October 2017 to January 2018.

These biomedical wastes were exported to Sri Lanka by Vengaads Limited, based in the United Kingdom. 

It was revealed that 130 containers containing 27,685 metric tons of industrial waste had been imported to Sri Lanka on 12 occasions.

The CEA, at the time of the inspection, had observed that the waste materials were amassed across an area of reaching up to 50,000 square feet. 

According to the National Environment Act No. 47 of 1980, the CEA has mandated that any industrial activity requires to obtain an Environmental Protection License (EPL) and Hazardous Waste Management License.

As the relevant company had not obtained the two aforementioned licenses, the CEA stressed that legal action would be sought against the company under the provisions of the National Environmental Act.