world’s first Eco-Religious site.

The Temple of the Tooth Relic knows as the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy had been named as the world’s first Green Religious Site, the Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry said.

Accordingly, the entire temple premises will be made polythene/plastic-free zones.

The National programme to name the Temple of the Tooth as the world’s first green religious place of worship was held last Friday under the patronage Minister Faiszer Musthapha.

The Minister said the temple would provide recyclable vases at the entrance for devotees to offer flowers instead of the plastic vases that devotees bring inside the temple premises.

Only environmentally friendly waste bins would be used inside the temple premises under this programme, he said.

The Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government had allocated provisions to provide a special vehicle to dispose of flowers and food materials, he said.

Minister Musthapha said that his ministry intended to cover all the religious places in Sri Lanka under this programme.

“The aim of this programme is to lessen the difficulties faced by devotees from environmental issues due to the garbage crisis,”