CEA battles posters

By Ananda KANNANGARA

The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) will launch a massive eco-friendly environmental campaign, the `No Poster’ war commencing from March 01.

As an initial step display of plastic notices, polythene banners and pasting of posters in the vicinity of schools, pirivenas and temples will be banned from this date. Speaking to the Sunday Observer, CEA, Chairman Udaya Gammanpila paid a special tribute to the younger generation who makes a great sacrifice to protect the country’s environment and highlighted a very special eco-friendly message he had seen on a wall in a girl’s school at Malabe which reads, `We have done this with great difficulty, please don’t dirty it’.

“After observing it, I was compelled to launch the `No Poster War campaign at places, especially where children gather with their elders,”. He also said, the CEA has launched numerous programs to discourage people on the use of polythene and pointed out that it takes hundreds of years for polythene to turn degradable while causing the earth to become unfertile and water polluted.

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“When polythene is burnt the resulting toxic elements could cause cancer and asthmatic problems,” he warned.

Gammanpila also remarked he would contest as a candidate in the forthcoming Provincial Council Election and stressed that his maiden election rally would be conducted without polythene decorations, or lighting crackers as an example to some politicians who do not care for environment during the election euphoria.