Auditor General says haphazard disposal of alcohol bottles causing severe environmental problem

Thrown away beer cans and bottles such as these are causing severe environmental problems 

• Millions of bottles disposed to environment with no program to recycle or collect bottles
• AG calls for new laws or a proper program to reduce environmental impact

The Auditor General in a recent report on the performance of the Excise Department disclosed that millions of empty alcohol bottles are thrown away, causing a massive environmental problem and called for new laws to deal with this harmful practice.

According to the information made available by six alcohol manufacturing companies which were subject to the audit, the total number of bottles purchased by them for the years 2018 and 2019 totaled 46,254,703 of which 90% were directly disposed to the environment without being re-used thus causing severe environmental problems.

The six companies that were subject to audit are Rockland, Royal Castle, Hingurana, Randenigala, Royal Castle and Acme alcohol manufacturers.

The Auditor General said that the impact of disposing the bottles without recycling them and the absence of a proper system for collection of bottles needs to be addressed urgently and the authorities should pay special attention to making legal provisions or formulate an appropriate methodology for the collection of such bottles.

In addition to glass bottles, beer cans too have become a major source of pollution and are often seen thrown on roadsides and waterways, thus harming the environment and leading to the spread of illness such as dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases.

(CK)