Oct 14, Colombo: Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ordered all shops and super markets to stop offering shopping bags for a price.

Considering a fundamental right petition filed by Liyanage Ariyapala, Supreme Court held that it is illegal to sell shopping bags at business establishments and ordered all establishments to stop such sales within a period of one week.

Five leading supermarkets in Sri Lanka; Keells Super, Cargills Food City, Magna, Laugfs and Arpico Supercentre have banded together to discourage the use of polythene bags from August 1 this year while introducing an eco friendly re-usable bags to their customers.

Supporting a decision taken by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) the businesses were charging a fee for every polythene bag dispensed at the check out counters in an attempt to deter the use of plastic bags by consumers.