Sri Lanka seeks compensation for illegal waste shipment from Britain

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is seeking compensation for damage caused by waste imported illegally from the UK, an official said on Tuesday, as the South Asian country shipped out the last of several hundred containers of unwanted refuse.
A total of 263 shipping containers from Britain, holding more than 3,000 tons of waste, arrived at the port of Colombo under the guise of scrap metal for recycling in 2019. But a foul smell emanating from the shipment led to the discovery of rotting hazardous waste, including soiled mattresses and suspected human remains.
“There were delays in repatriation due to COVID-19,” Ajit Weerasundara, deputy chairman of Sri Lanka’s Central Environmental Agency, told Arab News, “but the last 45 containers left (on Monday).” Sri Lanka sent back the first batch to the UK in 2020, while the remaining containers were sealed “to make sure there was no more damage to the environment” before being returned, Weerasundara said. Sri Lanka is party to the Basel Convention, which controls transnational movements of hazardous waste and its disposal, especially in developing nations.
The government has confirmed it has written to the Basel Secretariat in Switzerland, and is finalizing paperwork seeking compensation for damage caused by the hazardous material that arrived two years ago. Environmental lawyer and activist Jagath Gunawardene described this week’s developments as “a significant step for Sri Lanka.”