Sri Lanka is building a national data system to track plastics and waste across the full lifecycle. The UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform is supporting this work in partnership with government, civil society and communities.
Only 26% of countries regularly report data on plastic waste generated, according to Plastictracker.org. Sri Lanka, like many countries, currently lacks a unified and standardised data system for plastics across the lifecycle — and that gap has real consequences.
"Without good data, it's hard to make good decisions," says Dr Randika Jayasinghe, CSDR's Plastics, Waste and Circular Economy Specialist. "We can't manage what we don't measure."
Sri Lanka faces a growing plastic pollution crisis, driven by rapid urbanisation and changing consumption patterns. Its waste management infrastructure is under strain, and coastal and marine ecosystems are bearing much of the cost. Sri Lanka has responded with the National Action Plan on Plastic Waste Management 2021–2030 and a commitment to the global effort to develop an International Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution, the global plastics treaty currently under negotiation.
Since 2024, CSDR has been working with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Environment, Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and National Solid Waste Management Support Centre (NSWMSC) to build the data infrastructure that effective plastics governance requires.
That means working at every level — with government ministries, local councils, universities and community groups — to gather baseline data, harmonise it into a structured national system, and use it to inform decisions.
Four streams of work have been central to this effort.
Dr Randika Jaysinghe, Plastics and Waste Specialist at UNSW CSDR during the National Forum in April 2025. Credit: Zocreative Labs
Participants during an interactive activity at the National Forum in April 2025. Credit: Zocreative Labs
In April 2025, CSDR partnered with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Environment, the Central Environmental Authority, and the National Solid Waste Management Support Centre to convene the country's first National Plastics Forum. The event brought together 110 participants from more than 50 organisations, spanning government, civil society, academia, and the private sector. Sessions covered Sri Lanka's engagement with the global plastics treaty, evidence-based policy and data systems, and EPR frameworks. A national plastics project mapping workshop — a highlight of the programme — drew contributions from 21 organisations, collectively documenting 81 active plastics initiatives to inform the development of Sri Lanka's national plastics data system.
Building on the success of the first Forum, CSDR is co-organising a second national convening with CEA, NSWMSC, and the Ecosphere Resilience Research Centre (ERRC) at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, scheduled for June 2026. A highlight of the programme will be the release of a comprehensive mapping of plastics research conducted in Sri Lanka over the past decade. Key researchers will be invited to present their work and join a broader conversation on how research can better inform plastics policy and where the critical knowledge gaps still lie.
Sri Lanka is rolling out a national network of 58 Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for sorting, processing and recovering materials from waste streams. But designing MRFs that work requires first understanding what is actually in the waste.
In partnership with NSWMSC, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Sri Lanka, and the Centre for Planetary Health at the University of Colombo, CSDR ran waste audit training workshops across three provinces, reaching more than 100 local council officers responsible for the first 20 MRFs.
The workshops equipped councils to sort and categorise waste — identifying what materials are present and in what quantities. This baseline data is essential for designing facilities that match local conditions. It also builds lasting institutional capacity: councils can now conduct ongoing audits independently as waste streams change.
Sri Lanka's Ministry of Science and Technology operates 315 Vidatha centres across the country — community hubs for scientific literacy, knowledge exchange and capacity building. CSDR is supporting the Ministry to establish Citizen Science Cells at these centres, building a nationwide network for community-led environmental monitoring.
The cells focus on three areas: climate change, ocean sustainability and waste management. Vidatha officers and community members will be trained as active data contributors observing where waste originates and which plastic items accumulate — information that complements official data systems and informs both community action and local government planning.
Participants during a Waste Audit Workshop in Sri Lanka, March 2026.
Participants during a Waste Audit Workshop in Sri Lanka, March 2026.
Participants during a Waste Audit Workshop in Sri Lanka, March 2026.
Panelists during the Citizen Science Cells Workshop in Sri Lanka, March 2026.
CSDR researcher, Emily Belonje presenting during the Citizen Science Cells Workshop in Sri Lanka, March 2026.
Sri Lanka is building the evidence base needed to manage plastics effectively — drawing on waste audits, Material Recovery Facilities, plastics related projects and research mapping, Citizen Science Cells, and a growing network of public and private partnerships to bring fragmented data into a coherent national picture.
This evidence base will directly inform Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, container deposit return systems, and Sri Lanka's reporting under the global plastics treaty.
By building data infrastructure at every stage of the plastics lifecycle, Sri Lanka is demonstrating what becomes possible when plastics governance is anchored in evidence.
Partners: This work is led and implemented by Sri Lanka's Ministry of Environment, Central Environmental Authority, National Solid Waste Management Support Centre and Ministry of Science and Technology, with support from UNSW CSDR, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Sri Lanka, the Centre for Planetary Health at the University of Colombo, the Faculty of Technology at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and the Ecosphere Resilience Research Centre (ERRC).
