Revised National Implementation Plan under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in Sri Lanka - 2015.

The Revised National Implementation Plan under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in Sri Lanka - 2015 is the update to the National Implementation Plan (NIP) 2005 for the Stockholm Convention (SC) on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) that addresses 22 Persistent Organic Pollutants(POPs) including the initial 12 POPs. Problems related to POPs pesticide are: poor user practices of pesticides; insufficient regulatory mechanism for monitoring of illegal pesticides; insufficient information on POPs pesticides and their major degradation products; poor understanding on the possible correlation between POP pesticides and their biological effects; lack of proper storage facility for obsolete pesticides; poor attention for the substitution of hazardous pesticides with less hazardous pesticides; insufficient attention to facilitate organic farming to reduce the overall use of (hazardous) pesticides and to improve biodiversity and healthy soils; poor awareness on hazardous pesticides and alternatives including organic farming/food. Management actions identified for the implementation: encourage effective and efficient pesticide usage practices in order to minimize waste; strengthen pesticide regulatory system; designing an analytical monitoring system to sample and analyse for potential POPs; implement coordinated research network; establishment of a secured temporary storage facility for obsolete pesticides; control programs to assess current used (highly) hazardous pesticides; promote the use of alternative pest management strategies; programs to facilitate organic farming to reduce the overall use of (hazardous) pesticides and to improve biodiversity and healthy soils; awareness raising on hazardous pesticides and alternatives including organic farming/food and related activities.
Problems related to polychlorinatedbiphenyls (PCBs) are: lack of fully developed inventory; poor awareness; lack of adequate legislation to control imports; lack of information on some sectors having use of PCB containing oil e.g. grease production; lack of complete information regarding island wide possible contaminated sites ; lack of adequate rules and regulation to address the illegal use of PCB containing or contaminated oil Management actions identified for the implementation: development of a complete inventory; awareness raising among the welders and manufacturers; formulation of laws, regulations and guidelines to control import; carry out studies to cover all possible uses of PCB containing oil including grease production; development of complete inventory on possible contaminated sites due to welding transformers; formulation of rules and regulation to address the issue of illegal use of PCB containing or contaminated oil
Problems related to listed polybrominateddiphenyl ethers (PBDEs): Sri Lanka does not have a regulatory framework for WEEE management and does not have an adequate recycling facility. Hence much of WEEE is ends up in landfills; a considerable amount of WEEE is also being handled by the informal sector collectors and refurbishes with possible pollution by inadequate treatment; ack of resources to identify presence of PBDE in products and the possible presence in the environment; health impacts of PBDEs are not ascertained locally. Management actions identified for implementation: review & upgrade relevant legislation/s on solid waste management including WEEE; strict control of importation; collection network for WEEE to be strengthened and a solid waste management/disposal mechanism to be implemented; develop capacity to screen for POPs containing products and waste ; laboratory and field testing; monitoring mechanism, disposal methods, treatment systems, to be implemented, etc.
Problems related to perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and related substances: lack of awareness and training of institutions; lack of adequate legislation to control imports; stocks of PFOS containing foams still to be contained and disposed safely; various industries are potentially still using PFOS ; environmental impacts and baseline levels not adequately studied; wide area of possible contaminated sites. Management actions identified for implementation: Develop necessary legislation for management and prevention; establish appropriate laboratory facilities; guidelines for phase out, transportation, storage and disposal of stocks of PFOS; monitoring mechanisms; capacity building; safe disposal of existing stocks and stockpiles; full assessment of contaminated sites and rehabilitation and decontamination of contaminated sites.
Problems related to UPOPs: lack of complete integrated waste management systems at national, regional and local authority levels; lack of knowledge on all aspects of waste management among the stakeholders; lack of laws to ban on the open burning of industrial waste and domestic waste including plastics; lack of measuring specific data on amount of UPOPS. Management Actions Identified: Establishment of proper integrated waste management systems (Based on Waste Management Hierarchy); awareness campaign for all stakeholders to highlight the adverse effects of burning of wastes; introduce laws and regulation for banning of open burning of industrial wastes and explore the possibility of extending it to domestic plastic wastes; establish a proper data management system; develop a Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) as a frame of the overall emission inventory and related development. etc.