Views of panellists
A panel discussion co-chaired by NIBM Chairman Prithiviraj Perera and IWMI expert Dr. Drechsel, elicited the following proposals from the panellists:
Dhanujie Jayapala, Manager, Environmental Sustainability, MAS Capital Ltd.: MAS Capital (Pvt) Ltd., in partnership with the Sri Lanka Navy, is taking steps to clean and minimise sea beach damage. Waste collected from the beach and the ocean are converted into to yarn and fabric.
The common ocean debris comprises plastic and glass bottles, grocery bags, disposable diapers, cardboard, rigifoam and aluminium cans. The highest amount of coastal waste comes from Crow Island, Mirissa, Nainativu, Galle, Hikkaduwa and Trincomalee in descending order.
Colombo Municipal Councillor Milinda Rajapaksha: By imposing fines through laws and segregating waste, the CMC has succeeded in reducing waste from 800 to 650 tons per day. Some 80 percent of the Colombo waste is bio- degradable.
The CMC stands ready to pay the private sector and NGOs to help in the recovery, segregation and reuse of waste, and also to have partnerships with specialised institutions like NIBM to find solutions through data analytics.
Nimal Prematilleka, a Solid Waste Management expert from the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development: Colombo accounted for 80 percent of the polythene and plastic waste and the new Port City site is also generating a sizeable proportion of waste. Waste could be segregated into nine categories. But the poorer sections of society will find it difficult to do the sorting. Specialised centres for sorting are now being set up by the Ministry.
Nihal de Saram, Director, ICC Greenenergy (Pvt) Ltd., presented a composting machine for domestic use. Solid waste could move straight from the plate to the machine that will produce compost for reuse in just a few minutes. However, an import tax of 35 percent makes the machine expensive. Moves are underway to produce the machine locally.
Savera Weerasinghe, a Community Activist: The waste management process needs to be simplified and attractive incentives should be provided to encourage composting and to bring out end-products from waste, while creating demand for the end products.
The NIBM stands ready to help stakeholders to find solutions through the use of data analytics and hopes to extend similar initiatives through the National Innovations Centre, to help address issues that beset the nation in areas such as agriculture, transport, disaster risk reduction and management – and also issues that beset the corporate sector, with regard to predictions and trends in business.