Sri Lanka returns containers of hazardous waste to UK

Sri Lanka has started shipping 242 containers of hazardous waste, including body parts from mortuaries, back to Britain after a two year court battle by an environment watchdog, officials said.

The first 20 containers of medical waste, which included body parts from mortuaries, were loaded on the MV Texas Triumph on Friday and another 65 will be sent within a week, customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratne was quoted as saying in an AFP report.

“The balance will be shipped as soon as another vessel is available,” Jayaratne said.

Sri Lanka’s court of appeal two weeks ago ordered the repatriation of the bio-waste from hospitals and tonnes of plastic waste imported in violation of local and international shipping regulations, AFP reported.

The imports arrived between September 2017 and January 2018 and the Center for Environmental Justice (CEJ) had petitioned courts to get it rejected.

Officials had said the waste included rags, bandages and body parts from mortuaries.