21 containers of ‘hazardous waste’ are being sent back to the UK according to Sri Lankan officials.
It’s reported that of the 263 containers sent to the country, meant to be made up of used mattresses, carpets and rugs for potential recycling, many contained ‘hospital waste’, according to BBC News.
Authorities also said plastic and polythene waste were found in the containers.
Legal action was taken after the Sri Lanka authorities impounded the material in 2018.
In 2019, the Sri Lankan government urged the UK to immediately take back more than 100 containers sent to the island nation that contained the ‘putrid waste’ mixed up amid mattresses, clothes and plastics.
We are in contact with the Sri Lankan authorities and have requested more information which would allow us to launch a formal investigation – EA
Many of the containers are believed to have arrived from the UK as far back as 2017.
Officials said the 21 containers left Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratne said the original importation breached international and EU rules and regulations on hazardous waste and its disposal.
England’s Environment Agency said: “We are in contact with the Sri Lankan authorities and have requested more information which would allow us to launch a formal investigation.”
Last year (2019) Environment Agency chair, Emma Howard-Boyd, said that the UK can no longer pass its waste onto other countries and assume that it’s being properly disposed of.