Sri Lanka has demanded Rs.1,695 million as damage and compensation from the British company that dispatched 263 containers of solid waste in 2017 and 2018 in violation of the Basel Convention, the Environment Ministry said today.

Environment Ministry Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe said 133 out of 263 containers of hazardous or unhygienic solid waste have been dumped at a container yard at the Colombo Port and another 130 at a Katunayaka Free Trade Zone container yard by a private company.

“However, 21 containers of harmful waste from the Port of Colombo has already been dispatched back to Britain on last 27th and the remaining 112 containers will also be sent back after the inquiry on them is concluded,” Dr. Jasinghe said.

Dr. Jasinghe added that Sri Lanka lodged a formal complaint on Tuesday with the Basel Convention Secretariat in Switzerland along with a demand of Rs.1,694,274,751 as damage and compensation for the dumping of unhygienic and hazardous solid waste in Sri Lanka violating the international norms and conventions.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989 and it came into force in 1992. It is the most comprehensive global environmental agreement on hazardous waste and other waste and their illegal disposal.

It was revealed during the inquiry that the huge stock of hazardous and unhygienic solid waste contained in 263 containers have been dispatched by a British national with Sri Lankan origin to a relative in Sri Lanka without obtaining any approval and violating the international law as well as Sri Lanka’s law.