Plastic pollution in Sri Lanka has emerged as a pressing environmental, public health, and economic concern, casting a shadow over the island nation's natural beauty and cultural heritage. The mismanagement of plastic waste poses serious environmental, public health, and economic risks, affecting marine ecosystems, water quality, and key sectors like tourism and fishing that contributes significantly to the economy.  The National Action Plan on Plastic Waste Management (2021) identifies packaging (30%), consumer products as one of the primary sources of plastic waste, with food-related SUP items, such as straws and packaging, being a major contributor. Addressing this issue requires raising awareness about SUP's environmental and health impacts, promoting behavioural changes among consumers, and encouraging producers/ businesses to adopt sustainable production practices and alternative or innovative packaging methods.

1)       Expertise France

Expertise France is the French Public Agency For International Technical Cooperation. As a subsidiary of the Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), it designs and implements projects which aim to contribute to the balanced development of partner countries, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the priorities of France’s external action.

The agency achieves this goal by implementing national- or regional-scale projects in major areas of public action:

• Democratic, economic and financial governance
• Peace, stability and security
• Climate, agriculture and sustainable development
• Health and human development.

Expertise France promotes international solidarity by facilitating the transfer of skills, fostering peer dialogue, and mobilising experts to support development cooperation aligned with the rule of law, human rights, and France’s Official Development Assistance priorities.

“Circular Economy in the Food Sector (CIRCULAR)” project, is a three-year initiative funded by the European Union and partly co-funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project is jointly implemented by Expertise France (EF), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

 CIRCULAR takes an integrated approach to promoting a circular economy in Sri Lanka’s food sector, focusing in particular on reducing food loss and waste, as well as limiting the use of Single-Use Plastics (SUP).

 The overall objective of the project is to promote a Circular economy approach in the food sector, while increasing resilience to food crises and climate change.

 The specific objectives (outcomes) of the project are twofold:

 Specific Objective 1 (SO1): to increase recovery, processing and supply of edible and safe food surplus and/or waste for the benefit of vulnerable consumers and/or food producers (implemented by FAO).

Specific Objective 2 (SO2): to enhance effectiveness of the sustainable production, distribution and consumption models related to food waste/loss and single-use plastic food packaging (implemented by EF and GIZ).

Expertise France contributes under the following outputs:

-          Output 2.1: Increased awareness (and behavioural change) among the general public, economic operators, consumers and civil society about public incentives, sustainable products, solutions and services on the market.

 Output 2.3: MSME, startups, social enterprises, cooperatives have increased access to finance and BDS related to sustainable and gender sensitive business models and practices.

 Through Output 2.1, Expertise France aims to advance a circular economy in Sri Lanka’s food sector, with a particular emphasis on reducing single-use plastic (SUP) waste. This will be achieved by fostering awareness and driving behaviour change among consumers, businesses, civil society, and the public. Under this output, Expertise France will implement targeted activities to generate evidence-based knowledge and influence consumer behaviour, policy frameworks, and regulatory measures, ultimately supporting the transition to more sustainable production and consumption practices.

 To achieve above, EF will implement following target activities;

2.1.3: Awareness Raising (and Behaviour Change) of plastic importers and SUP manufacturers for SUP reduction

2.1.4: Awareness Raising (and Behaviour Change) of packaged food producers for SUP reduction

2.1.5: Awareness Raising (and Behaviour Change) of food distributors for SUP reduction and adoption of reuse models

2.1.6: Awareness Raising (and Behaviour Change) of food consumers for SUP reduction and adoption of reuse models

2.1.7: Awareness Raising (and Behaviour Change) of local authorities on Green Public Procurement

2.1.8: Capacity Building of Local Authorities to raise awareness for SUP reduction

Through output 2.3, EF will be taking a holistic approach to increasing access to finance for Circular Economy targeting growth and expansion firms requiring financing of $500,000 to $5 million and by working with Accounting firms, insurance companies, banks, NBFIs, DFIs and other key actors in improving the circular economy financing ecosystem.