Over 30,000 plastic bottles had been dumped into the Sri Pada forest reserve over the past three weeks by local pilgrims who visited Sri Pada from the Nallathanniya-Sri Pada road, Ambagamuwa Pradeshiya Sabha Secretary A. Sarawanabhavana said.
He said this unscrupulous behaviour of pilgrims has made a serious impact on the water resources which supply water to reservoirs. He said the plastic water bottles and solid waste dumped into the Sri Pada reserve were collected and brought to Nallathanniya, adding that those would be sent to a recycling centre.
"When the pilgrimage season starts we request the pilgrims to be eco-friendly.
However, the tonnes and tonnes of non-biodegradable solid waste collected at the end of season show their callous response to this request.
We spend millions of rupees each each to clean the solid waste dumped on the roadside and Sri Pada reserve" he complained.
He urged the pilgrims to properly dispose the waste and help to protect Sri Pada, which is a highly eco-sensitive zone and a world heritage site.
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