Major beverage companies advised to forward PET bottle recycling plan within 2 weeks: Minister

 

The three large-scale beverage companies that manufacture soft drinks using Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottles have been instructed to come up with recycling plan within two weeks before banning them, Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.

He instructed the officials following a discussion held with representatives of three major companies at the Ministry.

The Minister mentioned that all three companies have been using glass bottles to market their products since their inception. They later regretted using plastic bottles.

"Companies have already initiated a programme to recycle plastic bottles, but these are not done properly. Therefore, recycling should not be regularized neither plastic bottles to be  manufactured. At least 10% of the beverage bottles produced by these companies are not recycled," the Minister said.

The Ministry Secretary pointed out that the companies do not have a definite plan to collect them and have no proper system to recycle PET bottles.

In line with the government's policy to ban plastics and polythene products, PET bottles will be added to the next list and they will be banned, the minister said.

The Minister said the ban on polythene and plastics would force the relevant manufacturers to look for alternatives. However, all three companies agreed to introduce an alternative plan for PET bottles within two weeks.

In addition, one of these companies is currently manufacturing small bottles. The Minister said the production of soft drinks in 250 ml small plastic bottles have already started but they were instructed to stop production immediately. These small bottles are by no means recyclable. Therefore, the Minister requested that other companies not to engage in producing 250 ml bottles.

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