A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed between the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) on managing the EPR On-line Reporting Portal on the 18th of February 2023 at the CEA premises. The signing of the MoU was witnessed by Mr. Supun S. Pathirage, Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), and Mr. Manjula De Silva, Secretary General/CEO of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. This MoU cements the relationship between the Parties for the handling of the EPR Reporting System.
The Online Plastic Waste Reporting Portal for the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Obligatory Companies was developed by Virtusa (Pvt) Ltd. with funding from the Clean Cities Blue (CCBO) initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Ceylon Chamber and Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL) officially inaugurated the EPR system on June 16, 2022, for the environmentally responsible management of plastic waste. To access the online portal, visit www.epr.lk
The initiative aims to increase plastic waste collection and recycling to minimize plastic pollution at the national level. The online reporting portal has been endorsed by the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and welcomed by the private sector.
On January 26, 2023, the project conducted a meeting with the CEA officials who are handling the online portal and with the Virtusa team. The main objective of this meeting is to discuss some technical difficulties and give some technical instructions to the employees of CEA who are handling the EPR Portal. The training was led with the assistance of Virtusa.
CEA convened a meeting with PET and HIPS Consortium members to inform them that CEA has taken over the responsibility of managing the Online Reporting System and that they should report on manufacturing and collection figures into the Portal beginning in January 2022. The CEA intends for EPR-obligatory companies to begin reporting annual plastic consumption and collecting post-consumer plastic in January 2023. The initial phase will focus on two types of plastics, namely, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) packaging. The outcome of voluntary EPR implementation will be documented to draw lessons that can be applied to a mandatory collection and reporting system in the future. The project and the CEA looked forward to any positive steps taken toward moving the national EPR process forward.
