Up to two years jail for users of polythene bags
According to local reports,
“It is a good step but was enforced without a proper plan. The government should have introduced alternatives before implementing this step. Today, these banned materials are used by everyone,” Ajith Rohan, a 41-year-old Catholic manager of Wayamba Development Bank told AsiaNews. This is a leading rural Bank in Kurunegala district about 80 kilometers from the capital.
Ajith Rohan said there were materials in villages that could be used as alternatives for polythene products but proper awareness should be raised about the problem. “It is important to inform people scrupulously about the details of the ban and about what alternatives they have. If alternatives are not provided, the ban will turn out to be another failed environmental policy.”
“We can use banana leaves for carrying our lunch but not everybody can get them. The government should introduce easily available alternatives before banning. If people can get alternatives for polythene from markets easily, they will follow the government request” a graduate Science teacher at a famous girls’ school in
Santhini Fernando, another Science teacher in
A vegetable seller in a shopping complex 15 kilometers north from