Under the World Bank-funded MEIP, it is planned to set up common effluent treatment plants in the main industrial centres. The certification of industrial products which meet the prescribed standards of environment-friendly production packaging and waste disposal, remain desirable goals. The development of alternative sources of energy is given priority. The consumption patterns of the poor should be considered as survival consumption. Moreover, it should be emphasized that the consumption of energy by an individual in South Asia is about one-twentieth that of a person in a developed economy.
Air pollution is also extremely low when compared to the developed countries.
However, Government policy and its target are to maintain sustainable consumption patterns. In pursuance of this, the import of refrigerators using ozone-depleting substances has been banned. Status The experience of over-consumption and unsustainable lifestyles in the developed countries has brought focus to the adverse impact of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production on the environment. Sri Lanka, being a poor country does not, as yet, experiment in extravagant lifestyles on a significant scale. However, with expanding trade and globalization and growth of communication, patterns of demand for consumer goods are being altered.