Customs sends back 21 illegal containers of waste to UK

Monday, 28 September 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka Customs on Saturday took steps to reship 21 of the 263 containers of waste material illegally sent to the country from the UK in December 2017.

The measure was taken with the permission of the Attorney General, a Sri Lanka Customs spokesperson said.

This is the first time such waste containers have been reshipped in the South Asian region.

Sri Lanka Customs says that it has received a court order regarding the reshipment of 242 waste containers. Out of them, 112 containers are stored at the Port of Colombo. The other 130 have been shifted to the Katunayake Investment Zone, according to Sri Lanka Customs.

These containers, which were imported in violation of Customs law, contain municipal waste dumped in houses. Although permission had to be obtained before sending them from England to Sri Lanka, this has not been done. Permission must be obtained from the country prior to sending the relevant material under the Basel Convention, an international agreement between Sri Lanka and the UK.

Customs says it will take legal action against the Sri Lankan companies that brought the waste to Sri Lanka, and negotiate with the parent company in UK and levy a fine.