CEA drags its feet: 240 British toxic waste containers still sitting in Colombo Port

By Ifham Nizam-July 29, 2020

The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) has not taken action to send back the hazardous waste containers to the UK.

A senior government official told The Island yesterday that the documentation process had commenced in May and the waste containers were to be shipped back by July. However, due to bureaucratic red tape it was halted and the top management of the CEA was now saying they would commence the process after the upcoming general election.

Our attempts to contact CEA Director General Hemantha Jayasinghe for comment were in vain.

On the directive of the Court of Appeal, the CEA decided to finalise documentation to re-export more than 240 hazardous waste containers imported from the UK and dumped in the Colombo Port, last year.

Some of the waste containers were stored at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) yard and others moved to the premises of a private institution in the Katunayake Export Processing Zone.

CEA Chairman Siripala Amarasinghe told The Island recently that the consignment of waste would be re-exported to the UK in compliance with the court decision following an action filed by the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director Hemantha Withanage on importing toxic waste from the United Kingdom.

The CEA had been taking action to deal with the local and foreign institutions involved in this grave environmental issue, he said.

The Island earlier reported that United Kingdom Environmental Agency officials were planning to visit Colombo in January 2020. However, due to a delay in finalizing documentation, the visit was held up. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the indefinite postponement of the proposed visit by the British officials.

Initially, the UK wanted to take back the waste dumped in Sri Lanka. However, this was not possible due to the pending Court of Appeal case.

Withanage said the importer of the containers had violated the National Environmental Act (NEA) No. 47 of 1980, which clearly stated that the disposal of waste could only be done under a permit issued by the CEA.

"We want the waste to be sent back to the UK," a senior CEA official said, rejecting reports of moves to incinerate the garbage in Sri Lanka.

The companies which imported the waste were keen to destroy it here, but that won’t be allowed to happen, he assured.

Sri Lanka Customs Director Sunil Jayarathna recently said that such hazardous waste transfers were against the Basel Convention.

Colombo Metal Industries and ITL Colombo Limited used their licences to import the hazardous waste. The Court of Appeal, on September 20, 2019 further extended its Interim Order directing the authorities to prevent any transport or movement of the consignment of waste within the country.