40% of MV X-PRESS PEARL's plastic reached Sri Lanka's coast

COLOMBO (News 1st): Only 40 percent of the plastic onboard the MV X-PRESS PEARL vessel had washed ashore along Sri Lanka's coastal line, the Ministry of Environment revealed. Definite details on the rest of the 60 percent of plastic that was onboard the shipwreck are yet to be ascertained, Mahinda Amaraweera, Sri Lanka's Minister of Environment said on Tuesday (Jun. 29). According to the Environment Minister, 1034 tonnes of plastic that washed ashore along the country's coastal line were stored in 44 freight containers in the Wattala area. Attending the Progress Review Meeting of the Environment Ministry, Mahinda Amaraweera stressed that the MV X-PRESS PEARL disaster was recognized by the United Nations (UN) as an instance where the largest amount of plastic was dumped into the ocean at one given time.