On Friday, Sri Lanka’s Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera announced that Sri Lanka will ban most plastic products in order to protect its wild elephants and deer.

Impact on exports from India, China and Thailand

According to reports, the government’s decision will have an impact on plastic exports from India, China and Thailand, because Sri Lanka’s main sources of plastic imports are these three countries.

According to reports, waste plastics from landfills in Sri Lanka are the "main killer" of elephants. Thousands of waste plastic products were found from the autopsy of multiple animal carcasses.

Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that parliamentary legislation is currently being drafted to prevent the import of plastic products, including polyethylene plastic products, that end up in landfills. Officials said the policy will be rolled out within a few months.

Soon after announcing the decision, Amaraweera told AFP: "Waste plastic poses a huge threat to our wildlife, such as elephants, deer and other animals. We must take immediate action to stop this situation."

Sri Lanka has banned the production or import of non-biodegradable plastic food packaging bags and shopping bags since 2017.

Amaraweera said that the proposed import ban mainly covers toys and household goods, and the ban will be extended to local manufacturing, but did not give a specific timetable.