In Sri Lanka, we have a lot of national, cultural, and religious festivals throughout the year. Through all those festivals, Sinhala-Hindu New Year Festival is one of the major and most celebrated festivals in Sri Lanka. It is filled with happiness and people exchange their happiness with relatives and friends.

We are rising from a difficult period; the corona pandemic situation. We all are eagerly waiting to celebrate the Sinhala-Hindu New Year as Sri Lankans. People are waiting to visit their relatives, friends, and other loving neighbors. So this is the most blissful period of the year for the most Sri Lankans.

Since we are just recovering from a harsh period, we are responsible for changing our previous habits. Because another problem is waiting for us; is plastic corruption. Mother nature is being corrupted by plastic. So we should not increase that problem. We have a prime responsibility to decrease the usage of plastic.

Plastic and polythene are highly used during these festival seasons. As people who are just recovering from a harsh situation, we should not wave our hands at another harsh crisis. We should be very careful while using plastic products. It will be really appreciable if you try to reduce the plastic usage during this festival season. As responsible human beings, let’s try to avoid plastic in this Sinhala-Hindu New Year. Wish you a very happy Zero Plastic New Year 2022!!

Milindu Abeynayake
Faculty of Social Sciences & Languages
Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka