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By Shanika Sriyananda
The Sri Lanka Customs (SLC) is awaiting the Court of Appeal’s decision based on the Government Analyst’s (GA) report to proceed with its investigation over the controversial importation of 232 waste containers from the UK.
In September, the Court had asked the GA to submit a report to determine whether containers at both locations – the 112 containers at the Colombo International Terminal (CIT) at the Port and the 111 container loads of waste at Katunayake Free Trade Zone (KFTZ) – were stocked with alleged clinical or municipal waste.
However, due to the failure of the Department to submit the report, the Court had again ordered the GA to submit it in the next hearing in mid-October.
The Chairman of the SLC’s DG-appointed investigation committee and SLC Deputy Director Aqthar Hassen said the SLC would decide to open the containers following the Court’s ruling based on the AG’s response to the Court. “We are proceeding with our internal investigations,” he said.
The SLC committee is tasked to look into all aspects of the issue, and to take legal action against the importers if they have violated existing laws and regulations when importing used goods.
When contacted, Government Analyst Ariyananda Welianga said they had submitted their response in writing on this issue to the Court on 21 October.
“I can’t divulge any more details as this is before the Courts,” he told the Daily FT, when asked whether the GA is fully equipped to conduct laboratory tests into each and every container lying in the CIT and also at KFTZ.
In mid-July, SLC and CEA found that some private parties had imported 232 container loads of waste to the country without approval from the CEA by breaching the provisions of the BASEL Convention. The waste consignments were imported from the UK and were lying at the CIT and KFTZ since 2017.
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera had earlier instructed SLC’s Director-General P.S.M. Charles to conduct an investigation into the controversial matter, which involved claims that the UK-based hospital waste, including human remains, had been imported into the country.
Following an order issued by the Court of Appeal, the containers, which were to be re-sent to the country of origin, remain at the CIT and the KFTZ until Court decides what actions must be taken in the future.
The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) filed a writ of Certiorari and Mandamus in the Court of Appeal requesting to order CEA and SLC to conduct an investigation in the illegal importation of waste-container loads at the Port and KFTZ, and to take legal action against the importer or importers under the terms of the National Environmental Act and the Customs Ordinance, to order the Government to draft new laws blocking imports of waste materials to Sri Lanka.
According to Hayleys Free Zone Ltd. (HFZL), which was established under the Commercial Hub Regulation Act No. 1 of 2013, approved by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka and operating as an offshore location to provide logistics services, HFZL had stored 130 containers from the UK in its land No. 4 at the KFTZ to re-process and reship the used mattresses.
HFZL Managing Director Ruwan Waidyaratne told the Daily FT that following the Court Order, the company had re-loaded the waste at the open dump at the KFTZ into over 170 containers.
He said out of the total 130 containers of used mattresses, carpets and felt from the UK, 29 containers with re-processed items from the mattresses had already re-shipped to India and the Middle East, while the rest of the 111 container loads of used mattresses, carpets and felt were still remaining at its facility to re-process under the Commercial Hub Operation regulations.
“They are not exposed to rain now, as they have been re-stuffed into containers. But we are waiting for the Court Order to start re-processing and re-ship them,” he said, adding that they are also waiting till the GA submits his report to the Court.
Earlier, HFZL in a statement had refuted allegations that it had imported waste from the UK. “No waste was brought in those containers and the loads were the used mattresses, carpets and felt, which were to be re-processed for re-export at the HFZL premises,” it said, adding that as a reputed and the responsible leading logistic company, HFZL has engaged in a totally legitimate and transparent process.
The CEA, which is negotiating with the BASEL Secretariat in Switzerland to re-ship the imported waste to the country of origin, will send a detailed report on both waste consignments to the Environmental Agency in the UK to re-ship waste containers.
“We have finalised the report and most probably it will be sent to the Agency early next week,” CEA Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Management Unit Director Ajith Weerasundara told the Daily FT.
The CEA acts as the national competent authority under the ‘BASEL Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal’ and Sri Lanka ratified the Convention on August 28, 1992.
He said the CEA had informed in writing on July 24 about the violation of BASEL Convention by importing 232 containers of waste from the UK without prior approval from the relevant State authorities in Sri Lanka.
“We sought assistance and guidance to re-send the waste loads to the country of origin immediately. The Secretariat replied to us on how to categorise waste under the Convention, and also giving instructions on how to proceed to re-ship the waste loads,” Weerasundara said.
He said the Secretariat had also informed the relevant authorities in the UK and the representatives of the British High Commission in Sri Lanka had also discussed the matter with the CEA.
Meanwhile, the SLC has detected another 21 abandoned containers of waste at the CIT during its recent inspections.
“We have done our preliminary investigations and found these 21 containers are also full of municipal waste,” said Deputy Director Hassan, who is leading the investigation team.
The SLC is now investigating whether there is a link to the same consignee of the previously detected waste containers, which is still under investigation.
“It is premature for me to give more details. We are checking the shipping documents and also some documents that we had found inside these 21 containers,” he added.
