100,000+ EVs, No Battery Recycling Plant in Sri Lanka — Whose Problem Is That?

Sri Lanka's EV fleet passed 100,000 this year, and a National Audit Office report on the sector, widely covered this month, found there's still no system to track a battery from import to disposal, no dedicated import code for EV batteries, and no local recycling plant. Used packs are classed as hazardous waste but mostly sit in garages or get exported at high cost. A 2026 law allows an "extended producer responsibility" system to make importers and dealers take batteries back, but the actual regulations aren't written yet, so right now nobody is clearly on the hook. Owners say this isn't their fault — they bought a legally imported, taxed vehicle, so collection should fall on the importer or the state. Others say if you bought into "zero emissions" and cheap running costs, you should have asked where the battery goes after 8-10 years, because a dead pack in your garage isn't green at all. If you've already swapped an EV or hybrid battery, what actually happened to the old one — did the garage take it, did you keep it, or did it just disappear into the grey market? බැටරිය මාරු කළාට පස්සේ පරණ එක ඇත්තටම කොහෙද ගියේ කියලා දන්නවද?