News
More containers carrying foreign waste discovered; no solution till CA gives ruling
As 21 more containers carrying garbage from Britain have been discovered in the Customs’ Orugodawatte yard in recent weeks, officials appear to be at a loss as to what to do with tons of foreign waste in more than 200 containers.
The Central Environment Authority’s chemical and hazardous waste management unit director, Ajith Weerasundara, said that nothing could be done to the containers until the Court of Appeal gives its final verdict.
After waste material was found in more than 200 containers in the Customs yard and in a Katunayake yard in July, the Court of Appeal in August gave an interim order in response to a petition filed by the Centre for Environmental Justice, prohibiting the re-exporting of any of the goods of the two consignments of waste containers, without the prior approval of the court.
The Court further prohibited any of the goods from being moved out of their present locations, to any part of the country.
The Court also issued an order to Sri Lanka Customs to obtain the assistance of the Government Analyst’s Department and submit a report on the consignments to Court by September 20.
Mr. Weerasundara said the CEA was holding talks with their British environmental authorities with a view to re-exporting the waste back to Britain, the country of origin.
The Custom’s Deputy Director, Aqthar Hassen, said their investigations showed that the 21 containers they inspected carried municipal waste from Britain.
He also said their probe had triggered another investigation into possible money laundering behind the racket.
“We will be looking into the question whether a legal banking channel has been used for monetary transactions. We are conducting an investigation on this line, because we have reasons to believe otherwise,” he said.
Meanwhile, Asanka Ratnayake, Director of Hayleys Free Zone Limited, said that they were awaiting the Government Analyst’s report to compile their submission to court by November 4. The company denied it was behind the racket, but said it was involved in the business of importing used mattresses from Britain and re-exporting them.
The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), the petitioner in this case, will present its submission on December 5. The final date for argument has been fixed for February 13 next year.
“There is no change in our stance on the matter. The claim is that the waste in the containers are toxic, hazardous which contains both human and hospital waste and we can prove that they are not what they claim this waste to be,” he said.