The Marine Conservation and Monitoring Unit of the Sri Lanka Navy has introduced a new recycling process of polythene and plastic as a sustainable solution for garbage disposal of Sri Lanka.

This project consists of three phases and as its first phase production of fancy items, flower pots, fence posts, and interlocks for garden has been tested. It was proved that these items could be produced successfully, the SLN said.

In the second phase, it is expected to spread this technology all over the island through the Naval Community Welfare Project and make the general public aware on proper disposal of garbage and how to use garbage as a resource. Further, social organizations will be provided necessary technical assistance in this regard.

It has been planned to conduct experiments in identifying methods of disposing non polythene/plastic garbage with the assistance of Naval Research and Development Unit, under the third phase of the project and to produce polythene/plastic recycling machine applying the injection molding technology.

After giving a lot of thought to the menace of this non-degradable waste – polythene and plastic which cause severe damage on the environment, Sri Lanka Navy was able to introduce this new technology for the first time, after years of experiment. 

Accordingly, this process will be a suitable solution to effectively manage the solid waste such as polythene and plastic which remain un-decayed for a long period of time.

Under the directives of Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe, this project is conducted with the supervision of Director General Operations and Head of Steering Committee of Marine and Eco Friendly Projects Rear Admiral Piyal De Silva, Commander Western Naval Area Rear Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne and Director Marine Surveillance Commodore Dammika Dias. The project is administered by Lieutenant Commander Aminda Kalupahana.