Disposal of solid waste has become one of the major environmental issues in Sri Lanka. The most common being open dumping of garbage. Dumping of garbage on the road sides and in prohibited areas such as wetlands, a marshy land is a common practice.In view of the various environmental problems arising out of inadequate clearing of waste management services by the relevant agencies the need for a national approach to handle this serious matter was becoming important.
Keeping all in our mind, on our second day of clerkship we step in to karadiyana garbage disposal site…It was quite different from ordinary garbage disposal sites which we have seen earlier… The usual disgusting odor was not there. It is a 25 arces of land in karadiyana ,boralasgamuwa area..Garbage collected from four local government bodies in the Colombo suburbs-the Dehiwala Mount Lavinia and Moratuwa Municipal Councils and Kesbewa and Boralesgamuwa Pradeshiya Sabha dump here. This site was earlier handled by a private company, would have been easily turned into another garbage mountain like the Bloemendhal site in Colombo, now handle under the
Western Province Waste Management Authority since 2010..
If I briefly explain the procedure, trucks and tractors loaded with garbage reach the site and they first undergo weighing process..Then again way back they are weigh again to find out the garbage weight.Then they use a computerized scale for charging .To dump the garbage they use a method called cell method..They select 50*50 square feet area, dig that area and dump there. Then covered by garbage that has dumped couple of weeks ago from other sites to reduce the odor.If it is not adequate they use “Dahaiyaa” to cover it up. They handle about 100tons of garbage like this every day and in all 365 days of year.
They pay special attention towards the wel being of their staff members.They has been given boots, heavy gloves and helmets. And a vaccination program against typhoid, JE, hepatitis, tetanus also going on concomitantly. Every staff members have their own personal file and all their details maintain there.
Among all positive aspects, still there are some burning environmental issues.Bolgoda river is close by to site. so there is risk of getting river water polluted during rainy season. And spreading of garbage via animals is another problem. They have started a sterilization program for dogs to curb that problem to some extent.In near future they are planning for garbage recycling project, bio gas plant and they have already launch a compost making project.
At the end what i have to say is that whatever the deficiencies they have,without blaming to darkness that is an optimistic move for current garbage issue in sri lanka
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