A mountain - sized headache at SriPada

This is the article published on SundayTimes based on YZA's polythene removal campaign. Please visit http://sundaytimes.lk/080601/Plus/plus00001.html for the complete article.

Boutique-owner Ranjith, who has a temporary stall along the path that winds up Sri Pada, is tired of telling pilgrims not to litter the holy mountain.“However much we tell people not to drop garbage along the way, they continue to do so,” says the frustrated vendor as he points to a teenager who has just tossed a biscuit wrapper over his shoulder. Picked up by the breeze, it is deposited further up the path.

A fading signboard with Sinhala lettering hanging outside Ranjith’s boutique says: “Don’t Leave Garbage Lying Around”. The vendor looks almost resigned as he packs his goods. This is the last day of the pilgrim season. The expression on his face suggests that he does not expect things to improve much when he returns for the next season.
Environment awareness-raising efforts have clearly not succeeded with the majority of the thousands of visitors who climb Sri Pada every year, according to the vendor. More drastic steps are required. “Fines are what we need,” he says.

Garbage on Sri Pada has been a festering problem for many years now. Polythene and plastic odds and ends disposed of by visitors litter the mountain all the way, posing a long-term threat to the Peak Wilderness, one of the country’s pristine ecosystems. According to regulars who visit Sri Pada, the garbage problem was a lot worse in the past, but thanks to environment protection efforts by various organisations and concerned parties, the problem has been brought under some control, but a lot remains to be done. Visitors still continue to litter the sacred mountain.
But others are hopeful and say there is a simple solution to the problem: Ask the visitors to bring back with them the litter they generate on their journey. One group actively involved in cleaning up Sri Pada is the Young Zoologists’ Association (YZA). During a recent litter-clearing operation, YZA members noted that more than 75 percent of the garbage found on the mountain comprised plastic bottles and toffee and biscuit wrappers.