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Written question asked by Matthew Offord (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 November 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 30 November 2020. It was answered by Rebecca Pow (Conservative) on Friday, 4 December 2020 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Waste: Sri Lanka

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many containers (a) including body parts from mortuaries and (b) of other hazardous waste have been returned to the UK from Sri Lanka in the last three years.

Answer

This year 31 containers of waste have arrived back in England. The containers, which were shipped to Sri Lanka in 2017, were found by the Sri Lankan authorities to contain waste described as mattresses and carpets exported for recycling. This is part of a shipment totalling 263 containers all of which are due to be returned to England soon.

Despite media reports suggesting that medical waste was illegally shipped from England to Sri Lanka, the Environment Agency (EA) as the competent authority for waste shipments for England, has not received any indication or evidence from the Sri Lankan authorities to corroborate those reports. Unless or until the EA receive such evidence to the contrary or come across it, it is the view of the EA that these media reports are incorrect and misleading.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
120859
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Hazardous substances Imports Waste Sri Lanka Clinical waste
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk