Sharing knowledge of problems and solutions related to Solid Waste Management
Waste management is a challenge for all countries; and there are specific problems and challenges in managing waste in Sri Lanka. Finding solutions requires awareness of problems and solutions. Therefore, enhancing awareness of waste management is very important. The University of Sri Jayewardenepura is part of an international consortium under the rubric of Techno-Economic-Societal Sustainable Development Training in Sri Lanka (TESS), co-financed by the European Union through its Erasmus + Capacity Building in Higher Education programme.
The project is coordinated by the University of South-Eastern Norway together with the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Ruhuna, University of Moratuwa, University of Jaffna, University of Vocational Technology and Jalathakshana. In addition, the Technical University of Denmark, University of Nova De Lisboa and University of Essex are also members of the consortium that aims to develop new interdisciplinary educational programmes and redesign the existing educational programs in the area of waste management. With this objective, different activities will be carried out: creation and reformulation of courses, training workshops for teachers, development of digital learning tools, increased recruitment of female students, cooperation with the industry, the inclusion of local municipalities as associate partners and intensive dissemination of knowledge. These activities aim at strengthening the capacities of higher education institutions in waste management, providing advisory services to municipalities and companies, improving the international profile of institutions and developing high-quality teaching and research skills.
There are many problems in the field of solid waste management but solutions are also available. However, most of the stakeholders in society are unaware of solutions. One of the tasks of the project is to create a database (website) envisaging both problems and potential solutions. Anyone can access this database and comprehend potential solutions. Similarly, stakeholders can use the database as a knowledge base and they can contribute to the database by adding questions and solutions. Potential stakeholders are the general public, entrepreneurs, SMEs, governmental institutions, companies, and students.
The website is a user interface for the database. All stakeholders can update the database (Crowdsourcing project), and the website can be used as a web portal. For example, a carpenter has sawdust as a byproduct and burns or throws it away to a riverbank. Therefore, he is answerable for disposing of sawdust carelessly and polluting and destroying the riverbank too. However, there are products that can be made out of sawdust. But the carpenter doesn’t know that he can sell sawdust as a raw material and earn an extra income. Also, there may be sawdust collectors, and they pay for the sawdust.
A workshop was conducted at the Taj Samudra Hotel recently, where Project Coordinator Prof. Chamara Kuruppu and Prof. Umar Burki from the University of South Eastern Norway and Prof. Seyed Soheil Mansouri from the Technical University of Denmark participated as resource persons. Senior Prof. Sudantha Liyanage, former Vice Chancellor, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Prof. P. D. Nimal, Dean, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and Prof. Ashu Marasinghe, Presidential Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs highlighted the importance of solid waste management. A group of Sri Lankan resource persons participated in the workshop and discussed solid waste management related problems and potential innovative solutions. As part of the project, a website will be developed with initial problems and solutions and interested participants can access and share their knowledge through the website.
The project team is made up of foreign and local specialists in the area of Management and Engineering in order to achieve a more comprehensive approach to the issue of waste management. The workshop was organised by Prof. Kennedy Gunawardana, Prof. Anil Fernando, Dr. Kingsley Karunarathne and Dr. Ranil Peiris from the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.