The company had been established to use waste plastics to create alternative liquid furnace oil.

A letter dated 12 February 2021, originated from the Secretary to the Ministry of Energy, K.D.R. Olga, has requested the Secretary to the Environment Ministry to issue a Scheduled Waste Management Licence without any ‘conditions’ to Polipto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. in a bid to gain more profit for the company.  

But CEA Director General Hemantha Jayasinghe, in a letter dated 17 February 2021, has pointed out to the Environment Ministry, a field investigation revealed that recycling polythene and plastics to produce furnace oil, which was the primary objective of the Polipto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. is not a priority at present.

He also cited in his letter the discussions with the upper management regarding the issuance of the said licence concluded to not granting any approval to the Polipto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. 

The matter has been referred to the legal division of CEA for further clarification. 

The Polipto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. was established under the Petroleum Corporation, in 2009 with the assistance of CEA, under the technical guidance of University of Moratuwa and was funded by the Treasury. 

The Environment Ministry stated that since Polipto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. was not a profitable industry, Treasury funds were stopped and it was restricted by a committee appointed with Cabinet approval.

Then an ‘Operation and Maintenance Agreement’ was signed between the Ministry of Mineral Resources Development and Polipto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. on 26 September 2018.  

Even though Polipto Lanka Pvt Ltd. is known as a   State-owned company, the letter sent by Olga showed that only one per cent of the company is State-owned and the company is due to pay a sum of Rs 82 million to the Government in the last 10 years.