The port of Colombo in Sri Lanka, August 2, 2018. -
CHINA NOUVELLE / SIPA
In Sri Lanka, a court on Wednesday ordered the return to the United Kingdom of 242 containers of hazardous waste arrived illegally in the country.
The appeals court also ordered legal proceedings against the local importer.
The latter had brought in between September 2017 and January 2018 this waste from hospitals and morgues, claiming that it was intended to be recycled.
According to Sri Lankan Customs, the waste, which also included tons of plastic, was all imported in violation of local and international regulations.
The containers, found abandoned at the port of Colombo and in a neighboring free zone, contained, in particular, bandages, rags and parts of human bodies from mortuaries.
Already previous cases
The activist organization Center for Environmental Justice (CEJ), which had appealed to the court to request the repatriation of the containers, welcomed the decision.
“It's a victory for us.
We have pushed for the return of the containers and the prosecution of the importer, ”said CEJ Director General Hemantha Vithanage.
"The Court of Appeal satisfied our demands".
At the end of September, Sri Lanka had already returned to the United Kingdom, which had agreed to take them back, 21 containers containing 260 tonnes of waste shipped illegally to the island between September 2017 and March 2018. They were supposed to contain old mattresses and used carpets, but again they contained biomedical waste.
Several Asian countries, tired of being the dumping ground for large developed countries, have returned containers of waste to their countries of origin over the past two years.
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