Containers, illustration -

CHAMUSSY / SIPA

Sri Lanka returned 21 containers of waste to the UK on Sunday.

A total of 260 tonnes of waste, which arrived at the port of Colombo between September 2017 and March 2018, was returned, according to Sri Lankan customs.

The containers were supposed to be filled with old mattresses and used rugs, but some did indeed contain biomedical waste illegally shipped to the island.

"The shipper has agreed to take back these 21 containers," the customs spokesperson said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka returns 21 containers - holding up to 260 tonnes of illegal waste - to Britain, which its gov't says was brought to the island in violation of international law https://t.co/OCSxNZUBPJ pic.twitter.com/LUXH4jqOy7

- Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 27, 2020

Asia, relief for developed countries

It is not known what precisely this biomedical waste was, but similar containers arrived in the past contained bandages and even human organs.

242 other containers are still abandoned in the port and in a nearby area, where they contaminate the water and air.

They had arrived in 2017 and 2018. The government took legal action to win them over to the carrier.

The return of the containers is part of a context of refusal by Asian countries, tired of being the dump for the large developed countries.

Several Southeast Asian nations have returned containers to their country of origin in recent years.

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