Sri Lanka’s first consignment of electrical and electronic waste was exported to Japan on Wednesday.
The Environment Ministry, the Central Environmental Authority and the Posts Department jointly implemented the collection of household and electronic waste (e-waste) collected by 600 post offices during the week.
The consignment of electrical and electronic waste was exported to Japan yesterday (11) from the INSEE Ecocycle Company office in the Katunayake Investment Promotion Zone.
The consignment of electrical and electronic waste exported yesterday included three tonnes of printed circuit board, eight tonnes of plastic and 13 tonnes of metal.
All of this is the waste that had accumulated in homes until then during the week of collecting electrical and electronic waste.
Some of the heavy metals as well as certain chemical reactions contained in these electrical and electronic wastes pose a serious threat to human health. But many are unaware that there are dilapidated computers and devices as well as TVs stored in homes.
The first stock of electrical and electronic waste to be exported to Ousei Kankyo Shoji company Japan, especially the precious metal such as gold and platinum reserves contained in the Printed Circuit Board, were segregated by a Japanese company.They pay Sri Lanka according to the weight of the gold and platinum it contains.
The Minister expressed his gratitude to INSEE Ecocycle Company for introducing a sustainable solution to waste management in Sri Lanka and said that action would be taken in the next few weeks to receive the electronic and electronic waste that has yet to be disposed of at home.
Central Environmental Authority Chairman S.Samarasinghe and officials of INSEE Ecocycle were present.
