In a decisive push against environmental degradation, Sri Lanka’s apex court has intervened to overhaul the regulation of single-use polythene.
The Supreme Court has directed state authorities to submit a detailed progress report by 5 March next year on establishing a statutory framework to impose and administer a government levy on single-use plastic and polythene bags.
The directive follows a Fundamental Rights petition filed by the Centre for Environmental Justice, which brought the matter to the bench comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Justice Achala Wengappuli, and Justice Gihan Kulatunga.
Senior Counsel Ravindranath Dabare, representing the public interest organisation, informed the court that supermarket chains currently collect surcharges on polythene bags directly into their corporate revenue accounts.
He said that these private collections fail to support ecological conservation or curb plastic consumption.
In response, the Attorney General assured the bench that relevant state bodies are actively formulating a national state-managed levy structure.
The petitioners have urged the judiciary to order the immediate creation of a dedicated public environmental fund to absorb all proceeds generated by the proposed levy.
Under the scheme sought by the petitioners, these funds would be strictly channeled into waste management infrastructure, recycling programmes, and the enforcement of the internationally recognised "polluter pays" principle.
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