Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says that more than 122 billion rupees (about US $ 611.53 million) was spent on importing plastics in 2020 alone, according to a United Nations database.
The Minister states that about 300,000 tons of plastic is imported to Sri Lanka annually.
About 92.9 percent of the plastics are dumped into the environment, he said.
Only 7.1 percent of this is recycled and most of the plastics thrown into the environment are burned and destroyed by humans, causing massive air pollution, the minister said.
