Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) will take legal action against those who imported the containers of industrial waste without the proper a licence resulting in a public outcry, CEA Director General Hemantha Jayasinghe said.

He said Hayleys Free Zone Ltd., ETL Colombo (Pvt) Limited and Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Ltd, were responsible for the importing, reprocessing and re-exporting the consignment of industrial waste.

These companies had not obtained either the Environmental Protection License or the Hazardous Waste Management License from the CEA for such imports,” Mr Jayasinghe said.

He said the CEA had directed Hayleys Free Zone Ltd. also known as Advantis, to export the waste material to the country of origin with immediate effect and directed the company to take immediate steps to prevent any liquid or other effluents polluting the environment.

The CEA said the import of waste material needed the consent of the relevant country of origin on the basis that Sri Lanka is a signatory to the Basel Convention.

Meanwhile, Hayleys Free Zone Ltd (HFZ) said it had no connection to the 102 containers lying at the Port of Colombo, but said the company had processed and re-exported 29 containers out of the 130 container loads of used mattresses currently stored at the HFZ yard.

With regard to the 130 container loads of used mattresses, the company said they were imported by Ceylon Metal Processing Corporation (Pvt) Ltd., which was the actual owner of the cargo. (