The ‘National polythene, plastic and electronic waste prevention week’ commenced today (24) across the country, by the Central Environmental Authority under the guidance of President Maithripala Sirisena.

During this Week, which concludes on October, 30, the public can hand over disposing polythene, plastic and electrical and electronic waste to the main collection centers established at the district levels.

When plastic and polythene mixed with the soil, it lasts for a very long time, and as a result of this situation the soil will become infertile and the ground water will becomes contaminated.

Improperly discarded plastic can be a root cause for diseases like filariasis and dengue spread by mosquitoes as well as the pollutants generated from the burning of plastics & polythene result in health hazards leading to cancer and respiratory diseases.

Plastic and polythene could eventually cause the drains to block leading to flash floods and such disastrous situations could be worsened due to this.

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a term for electronic products that have been discarded, unwanted, non-working or obsolete, and have essentially reached the end of their useful life. E-waste is created from anything electronic: computers, TVs, monitors, cell phones, PDAs, VCRs, CD players, fax machines, printers etc.

During the past few years, use of electronics in Sri Lanka has been rapidly increasing and their life span also been reaching the end.

As all the electronic devices contain toxic chemicals, the improper disposal of E-waste will pose a great threat to the health of the population, environment as well as to the existence of the other living creatures.