Sri Lanka's plastic dilemma: Nation of delayed action and purpose

ANOTHER year, another World Environment Day, and another theme to rally behind. This year, it's 'Ending Plastic Pollution'. Decades of talk, countless promises to act, yet Sri Lanka isn't ending anything. We are choking in plastics due to delayed action, lack of a common purpose and never-ending excuses.

- By Lakshan Madurasinghe

Sri Lanka generates around 7,000 metric tonnes of solid waste daily. According to the Ministry of Environment, the total estimated municipal plastic waste generated annually is approximately 250,000 tonnes. These numbers sadly represent a system overwhelmed, a nation struggling to manage what it produces.

This reality got me thinking about the power to implement change. What if I had the power to bring about change? What if I were the Minister of Environment, or someone, with the power to change? What would I do differently? This is wishful thinking, of course, but if I were the Minister of Environment or had actionable power, I'd rethink plastic waste management from every angle producers, importers, consumers, and policymakers alike demanding clearer purpose, responsibility, and action across the entire ecosystem.

With exposure of being once the largest collector of PET plastics in Sri Lanka, the Chairman of the private sector-led Extender Producer Responsibility committee, experience building 100+ collection and recycling partnerships across Southwest Asia, I know voluntary goodwill alone traps us in endless half-measures. Sri Lanka needs bold, enforceable laws not half-commitments - to create a system where doing the right thing is standard, not heroic. Only then can future business and government leaders make lasting progress for the environment and our precious communities.

Waste unmanaged, accountability nowhere to be found