The Central Environmental Authority has informed the Ministry of Environment that the ban on the use of lunch sheets and sachet packets has been successful.
The Authority said the production, distribution and sale of air-filled toys, plastic cotton buds, polythene packaging that don’t include food and non-pharmaceutical sachets were banned with effect from the 31st of March this year.
According to the Ministry of Environment the sale of sachet packets worth Rs.960 million are sold in the country annually.
The Ministry also said 5,745 million lunch sheets are released to the environment yearly.
The Central Environmental Authority will hand over a report to the Minister of Environment in this regard while stating that 4,930 raids will be carried out before the end of 2021.
The Environment Ministry said Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has instructed the Central Environmental Authority to conduct raids to identify if the banned materials are still being manufactured.
