Biggest garbage generator tries to put house in order
In the Western Province, where more than 60 per cent of Sri Lanka’s waste is generated, police and military will be keeping an eye on the streets for reckless garbage disposal.
A team has been tasked with reporting mismanagement of garbage to the relevant authorities.
Lawsuit filed by Environment Police have increased three-fold.
Senior DIG of the Western Province, Nandana Munasinghe said: “We make field visits in the morning and and action is taken if garbage is dumped on the roads. However the contribution of the people is not sufficient in this regard.”
According to the Waste Management Authority, between 7,000 metric tonnes and 7,500 metric tonnes of solid waste are generated in Sri Lanka per day. The Colombo District alone generates 2,000-2,100 MT.
However, only 50-60 per cent of the garbage generated island-wide are collected by local authorities.
Nearly 800- 850 MT of solid waste are transported to the Meethotamulla site by the Colombo Municipality Council and the Kolonnawa Urban Council.
The Western Province accounts for more than 60 per cent of waste generation in the country.
It will only get worse. The Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development has forecast that by 2030, the megapolis and the off-shore port city luxury residential project will generate another 1,300 MT a day.
Dr Upali Indrasiri, project director of the presidential task force on environment protection, told the Sunday Times there are plans for the future.
Projects to convert waste to energy will be launched in Muthurajawe l a , Karadiyana, and Kaduwela, Bomiriya.
Karadiyana has an expected capacity of 1,000 MT per day and in Muthurajawela it will be 630 MT per day. Dr Indrasiri said discrepancies related to the feed-in-tariff rate for the generated power that caused a significant delay in the implementation of the project, has now been solved.
The Bloemendhal waste site will be transformed into a mix of commercial areas, an urban forest patch, and a recreational park.
A report by the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development says that sanitary land fills will be created in Malamulla, Divulapitiya, and a bio gas project will be initiated in Dikkovita.
Meanwhile, Sidath Nilanga, health supervisor in the Dompe Divisional Secretariate said recycling of garbage that began a few years back has been successful.
He said about 10 MT of garbage are collected every day in the Dompe area and 3