President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently brought attention to a cabinet decision to limit plastic use in Sri Lanka. On his Facebook page, President Rajapaksa detailed the cabinet decision, which included the banning of Poly Ethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Vinyl Chloride (PVC) containers and the mandatory use of internationally recommended resin identification code (numbered 1-7).

The post is as follows

“Banning the following plastic and polythene products from 1st of January 2021

and introducing alternatives.

- Prohibition of packaging of chemicals or pesticides in Poly Ethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Vinyl Chloride (PVC) containers and use packagings made of glass or other

raw materials as an alternative.

- Prohibition of sachets made of polythene and plastic less than 20ml/ 20g Use

packages of 100ml/ 100g or more as an alternative (excluding food and medicine)

- Prohibition of various inflatable toys made of plastic (excluding balloons, balls

and floating toys) and use the toys made of eco- friendly and hygienic raw material

as an alternative.

- Ban plastic cotton buds (excluding hygiene products) and use cotton buds made

from biodegradable materials as an alternative.

- Mandating to indicate the 1-7 codes internationally recommended to promote the recycling of all plastic products.

#GotabayaRajapaksa #GR #CabinetDecisions #වැඩකරනරටක්”