Sri Lanka has over 400 companies tied up with plastic processing and annual capacity of the local plastic processing industry is approximately 140,000 metric tons with an annual average growth rate of around 10%. – 12 %.
by J.M.N.J. Jayathilake and LHD Hansamali
What is the current situation in Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka is positioned as the 5th largest plastic polluter in the World. We discard more than 5 Million kilograms of plastic daily, becoming the tear drop of Indian Ocean. Throughout the past 45 years, plastic processing was a thriving need of industry in Sri Lanka. Currently, Sri Lanka has over 400 companies tied up with plastic processing and annual capacity of the local plastic processing industry is approximately 140,000 metric tons with an annual average growth rate of around 10%. – 12 %.
What is the real importance of plastics?
Plastic is an extremely helpful material due to the wide range of physical properties. Most modern plastics are manufactured by organic chemicals which results versatile, hygienic, lightweight, flexible and highly durable plastic varieties; one of the principal property of many plastics. This allows plastics to be used for many applications that formerly relied on stone, metal, concrete or timber. There are significant advantages, for food preservation, medical product efficacy, electrical safety, improved thermal insulation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower fuel consumption in aircraft and automobiles.From computers and cell phones to televisions and microwaves, durable, lightweight and affordable plastics have helped revolutionize the electronics we rely on every day.
Now we are here…
However, the plastic industry getting expanded day by day to satisfy the growing consumer needs. Simultaneously, the waste of plastic pollution and impact of plastic pollution are also getting increased. It is a timely need of considering “Why we should manage plastic waste?”. Technological factors, Environmental factors, Regulatory factors, Economic factors and Social factors are the main aspects that we should really care about. Particularly, It upsets the organic phenomenon, as every level of organisms in food chain become poisoned, even the smallest organisms in the world. On the other hand, Groundwater getting polluted by leaky plastics and waste and burning of plastics causes environmental pollution often ended up with severe health issues to animals as well as humans.
Previously, World Bank data were used to global plastic pollution estimation and policymaking. Up to date, there is a necessity for adequate data on plastic pollution in a global setting and potential pathways into the setting. Therefore, few world projects are on mega researches, covering the land as well sea.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian federal government agency responsible for scientific research. They undertake the world’s largest plastic pollution survey, working with partners around the world to collect on the ground data to look at exactly how much litter is in the environment and entering our oceans. This includes many countries listed as the world's top 20 polluters such as China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and the United States. Sri Lanka also is one of the partner countries which includes in the survey. CSIRO made collaboration with University of Sri Jayewardenepura and Dr.KamalRanatunga coordinated the project with CSIRO team who is the director of the Centre for Marine science and Technology in the Department of Zoology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. This team was able to collect data sufficiently, within 6 months with the helping hand of 35 volunteers.Further, a three day workshop was held before engaging field works for better understanding of the scientific methods.
They used field sampling and mathematical modelling to document the distribution of plastic on inland areas, riverine areas, coastal areas andat sea in the near shore environmentto identify the significant waste mismanagement in order to provide a more strong and trustworthy estimation. In Sri Lanka, land plastic survey was started in March 2019. It included 99 random sampling points, including 38 inland sites, 35 river sites and26 coastal sites that representing half of Sri Lanka.
For each of these three survey areas, transect methods were used to estimate the amounts and types of litter or waste that were found in these environments.
Introduction of transect method and data collection
The team faced many challenges, especially when arriving the exact GPS points that located in middle of rivers, top of a mountain, middle of a garbage area or inside restricted areas. So, we had to move with lot of difficulties. Meanwhile, they encouraged participants to clean-up the sites while continuing the data collection. However, the team has successfully covered a half of Sri Lanka, and rest of the country will be monitored soon.
Currently, the team work on analysing recorded data which included comprehensive dataset of plastics. They will use these data integrating with statistical models to produce maps that highlight the plumes of plastic emerging from urban centres and nearby areas. Later, the estimation san be made about the amount of plastic from the plumes that is lost to the open ocean or redeposit back to land.The ultimate outcomes of the project will be used to implement best-practices in the industry as well as for identifying opportunities in waste management and valuing plastics to reduce plastic pollution. Therefore, we strongly believe this project will be a better opportunity to identify our limits in environment. It will directed us for a better world without destructive plastics.
Plastic free ocean – Better world
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| The team representing 35 volunteers from US, Bangladesh participants and CSIRO leaders |
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