We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children -Native American proverb-

The second day of the clerkship programme dawned, with a promise of a “garbage dump visit” looming upon us.. (What a treat!)

We were taken to the Karadiyana Waste management project, which was just a few minutes’ drive from the MOH office in Werahera.  Naturally, we were expecting the stench to hit our nostrils the moment we neared the premises, but miraculously the smell was quite bearable, however the sweltering heat was NOT!

The view comprised nothing but mountains of garbage, flocks of birds, some stray dogs & garbage trucks arriving every five minutes or so.

Initially the trucks were weighed. Just simple mathematics comes into play when these trucks are weighed at the weighbridge with & without the load of garbage. This helps in calculating the daily incoming waste tonnage. Accordingly we were told that the average waste dumping in 2011 was about MT 326.96! (and this was ONLY from the municipal councils of the vicinity!)

weighing at the weigh-bay

The ideal truck for waste dumping

We learned how the garbage is dumped in “cell system” in order to diminish the stench. Here the new garbage is covered with old garbage in a rotational basis, since with time the odor from the decomposing material becomes less.

The area is quite high in the scale of biodiversity. There were birds like crows, Egrets, Brahminy kites; eating up maggots. We were told that they were hoping to promote bird watching alongside those marshy lands aswel.

However much good the dump does as a whole to the environment, there were quite a few problems which were challenging the project.

The use of the marshy land instead of a bare land has led to the leakage of pollutants to the water stream leading to ground water contamination, residual soil contamination and offgassing of methane generated by decaying organic material.

We were also told that if this dumping continues the entire dump would be filled within another year or two.

Therefore steps have been taken to implement proposals put forward to open up a composed plant as well as a power plant. Operations are due to commence in 2014.

Also the need has arisen for the sterilization of the stray dogs in the area which apparently poses a threat due to the spread of rabies

Stray dogs

Varieties of birds

Another shocking, revelation was made when we were told about the average income of the “ramp diggers”- the people who dig out the trash, hence sorting out the plastic, metal & the recyclables. The recyclables are sold to the highest bidder while 85% of the price goes to them & the rest into their welfare fund.

The average monthly salary of them was around 30,000-40,000/= !! The impact of those words on us was clearly fascinating! There were quite a few of my group mates who were definitely talking about “part time” jobs here!

Upon inquiry we were told about how the health & welfare of these workers are maintained. They are given boots, gloves, T shirts, Bottoms free of charge, every 6 months. They are also screened for TB & Filariasis, blood works are done to check on their blood sugar levels & cholesterol levels every 6 months. They are also vaccinated for tetanus & typhoid.

At the end, we left the place with many thoughts lingering on our minds. It was certainly an eye opener to us, as I’m sure this visit was a first to all 38 of us. It left us thinking, yes we do borrow earth from our children, but are we capable of returning it back just as it was? 

-Dinithi Herath-

20/08/2012

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