Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said a Cabinet Paper would be submitted to make it mandatory for all public and private sector institutions to join in this programme.

The Ministry has designed special containers to collect discarded carbon pens and toothbrushes.

The Environment Minister will present the first container to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday (26).

Minister Amaraweera observed that the discarded carbon pens and toothbrushes have resulted in enormous environmental damage. The Ministry has prepared a programme to reduce this environmental risk.

Amaraweera said approximately 80 kilogrammes of empty ballpoint pen tubes used by school students are released to the environment daily. Accordingly, it was revealed that around 29,000 kilogrammes of empty ballpoint pens are dumped into the environment by the school system per year. However, no survey has been conducted on the total amount of carbon pens released daily by the public and private institutions and other sectors.

The programme initially targets children. Accordingly, a special container has been introduced for every school to dispose of empty pens and toothbrushes. This container can hold 2,000 pens and 500 toothbrushes. ‘Wex Industries Plastics Company’ has agreed to purchase the container once it is filled.

The inaugural ceremony of this programme will be held at Dickwella Vijitha Central College.