Garbage crisis

Sri Lanka

 

 

        Today, we all are facing a big problem of Garbage, Infrastructure and resources for waste collection are lacking in most parts of the country, so uncontrolled scattering and dumping of garbage is widespread. There are no proper facilities for final disposal of most of the solid waste produced by households and industries. Waste that is improperly dumped can impede water-flow in drainage channels, and provides breeding places for disease vectors such as rats and mosquitoes. Open dumping sites in natural areas cause pollution of ground- and surface-water, and will facilitate encroachment. Open burning of waste at low temperatures is also widespread. It contributes to atmospheric pollution and may cause serious health problems. And now a day we all are talking about environment pollution that cause by garbage. We can categorize environment pollution as

 

• Soil Pollution
  
• Water Pollution
  
• Air Pollution
  
• Sound Pollution
  

 

In countries like Sri Lanka, most of the problems surrounding solid waste seem to arise from lack of infrastructure, a lack of resources and especially an absence of proper waster disposal provisions. Because of this, most people simply dump their garbage at the most convenient place available to them, or better – the least inconvenient place, which is often the roadside or some natural area .his results in a scattering of waste materials, which attract all kinds of animals. For some of these animals, including cattle, goats and pigs, eating from the garbage might result in ingestion of plastic bags, etc, which can damage their health. Other animals, especially dogs, crows and monkeys, help spread the waste even further. Finally, some of the animals attracted by the waste might pose a threat to the public health, as is discussed in more detail below.

As above mentioned the soil, water, air are get pollute by garbage. The ways how soil, water and air get pollute due to garbage are mention below,

 

 

Soil Pollution by Garbage

 

The greatest land pollution by far occurs due to urbanization and concentration of pollution. Garbage, waste paper, packing materials, and rejects from households and industries form solid wastes. In Sri Lanka, the capita production of solid waste is 0.89kg/day. Improper disposal by burning in open dumps adds to air pollution. Proper management of solid wastes is required to prevent environmental pollution, nuisance and deterioration of the quality of life.

Ever increasing demand for paper, fuel, furniture and packing materials due to exploding populations combined with increasing urbanization have aggravate the unhappy situation . The result is that we now live in a rapidly changing environment, the effects of which are not easily predictable.

 

 

Water Pollution by Garbage

 

                Many shanty people had built their houses and make shift toilets on water-ways of the canal. Bere Lake is a good example for that. Because most of the waste water canals and toilet drains of leading hotels in Sri Lanka leads to Bere Lake. More than the solid waste, waste water and human excreta had polluted canals. Water occurs due to the presence of dissolved inorganic materials, organic materials such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates and other substance found in domestic and industrial waste water.

 

    Organic Pollutants

 

Organic pollution is due to presence of high molecular weight compounds such as sugars, oil and fats, and proteins obtained from distillery, canning, sugar and other food processing industries. Oil spillage from tankers and ships Leeds to the pollution of beaches. These are done by garbage that release from several components that built by man.

    Inorganic Pollutants

 

This is cause by the garbage such as alkalis, acid, inorganic salts and other chemicals that released by industries. Industries like paper and pulp, tanneries, textile and coke-ovens among many others, discharge these chemicals. Inorganic chemical such as free chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and other sulfides, Cr, Ni, Zn, Ag and etc are usually found in metal plating liquid wastes, coke ovens and fertilizer industries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Air Pollution by Garbage

    

Today people dump Garbage every where, so that government unable to collect garbage in time, then we get bad smell .Pollution of air occurs from process industries(the air release by industries as garbage) such as sulfuric acid plants, power station boilers, nitric acid plants, cement plants, foundries, chlor-alkali industries and plastic industries.

A healthy man inhales about 16.5kg air/day. if the air is polluted by garbage ,intake oxygen is reduced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reasons for the Garbage crisis in Sri Lanka

 

• Improper way of Collecting garbage /unreliable municipal service
  
• Less space in dumping garbage in residents
  
• Lack of knowledge in dumping garbage
  
• lack of recognition for community work by external organizations
  
• Improper management in dumping garbage from merchant shops
  
• Using politeness with out recycling
  
• Delays in the provision of basic infrastructure by the government
  
• Insufficient space for waste disposal inside housing plots and within the settlement
  
• lack of political support for solid waste management.
  
• Mixing of dirt things to lakes and other water recourses
  
• low wiliness to pay for solid waste collection
  
• Urbanization
  
• lack of assistance from municipality
  
• low wiliness to keep surrounding of houses clean
  
• Blocked Sewers or Drains
  
• low wiliness of community to participate in waste collection
  
• Improper dumping of e-waste
  
• low community priority for solid waste management
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Affects of Dumping Garbage (Summary)

 

 

• Effects of air pollution
  
  • Global Warming-The increases amount CO₂ ,and other green house gasses CH₄,O₃ are the primary cause due to burning garbage
    
  • Photo chemical smog and air borne toxic substances
    

 

• Mosquitoes can spread a whole range of viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases, of which Malaria is best known and most widespread throughout the tropics, including many parts of Sri Lanka. Mosquitoes generally breed in stagnant water,
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• When the garbage dumps every where by human in to the roads, the drain get block and cause for flood. From that people have to pay with their lives, and causes many illnesses.
  
• People throw away plastics and polythene without thinking environment pollution. But when those things go through soil, it cause for landslides.
  
• Some animals like pigs, cows and dogs eat those plastics and polythene which Throw away by human, and they died.
  
• From dumping garbage every where the roads get dirty, and cities get unpleasant. So this may cause for tourism problems also.
  
• As mention above this cause for air, land and water pollution.
  
• And from adding garbage to soil the land gets barren.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to overcome the problem of garbage crisis in Sri Lanka

 

 

Most people feel that waste management is a task for the Government, and would only be willing to take action themselves if it yields sufficient benefit. Experiences with theathacharaya community waste collection program have already shown that financial benefits from selling sorted garbage are fairly low on a household level. Therefore such programs would only be effective in very low-income areas, where even small benefits count.

Households generally dump or burn their waste materials. Dumping is usually done in a shallow pit in the ground, along the roadside, on a nearby dumpsite, in low-lying marshland or in waterways or water bodies. Dumped material is often periodically burned. Local authorities usually dump their collected waste on privately owned land. Finding suitable sites is difficult, and current sites are therefore often over-used. Officially, waste is not burned by the authorities after dumping, but it does happen.

Waste production of the households measured seems to be in the range of 100-300g per day, not including waste materials that were recycled or re-used. Households in more rural areas often seem to use their organic waste as animal feed (not necessarily for their own animals) or for composting.

 

Paper and cardboard waste are essentially also a form of organic waste. When it dirty, they can be recycled or re-used (e.g. for wrapping, as bags or envelopes, and for writing on the unused side). When dirty, they could be composed, but caution may be needed because of the printing ink.

Glass can be recycled, and glass bottles can be re-used. Other silicate (stony) materials can be used in things like road construction, but might first need to be grinded.

Most metals can be recycled. Care should be taken with dumping, as heavy metals can cause serious pollution.

Plastics will degrade naturally, but only very slowly. Addition of certain materials during production can speed up this process. Some types of plastic waste (mostly PET, PE and PP) can be recycled mechanically, but will have to be sorted and cleaned. Tertiary (chemical) recycling of plastics is also possible, and can often handle more contaminated waste, but these techniques are not yet widely available.

 

Waste collection and cleaning is mostly paid out of assessment tax and trade licences.Frequent cleaning and collection of roadside waste is mostly restricted to main roads and town areas. Cleaning of the roadside drains is included in the duties of the local authority cleaners, but is currently insufficient. The cleaners proceed along their daily route, sweeping and shoveling up roadside litter and garbage (including a lot of sand and stones), and throwing it in a tractor-trailer or handcart. There seems to be an increasing tendency, especially among shop owners and higher income households on the town-edges, to use bags or bins, instead of just dumping the garbage along the roadside. Centrally laced garbage barrels, which are provided by the private cleaning companies, and also by municipal councils.

 

Town cleaners seem to keep several materials separate from the rest of the collected waste. Especially corrugated cardboard, metal cans, scrap metal, glass bottles, firewood and some food remains are re-used or sold to waste buyers for recycling.

Waste buyers (re-sellers) often have small shops, where they buy, and sort and store things like (news) paper, corrugated cardboard, scrap metal, glass, barrels, plastic containers, sacks and sometimes black-colored plastics. These materials are obtained from companies, town cleaners, house-to-house collectors, scavengers and other individuals, and are either sold locally for re-use or are sold to recycling-companies, usually through a middleman.

There are some areas in Sri Lanka, mostly town areas, in which waste is collected and centrally disposed of in open waste-dumps. A lot of people also use waste to fill up low-lying areas, which can then be used for building, etc. Both of these activities reduce some of the problems and unsightliness associated with scattered garbage.

 

 

 

Weligama garbage recycles project

 

A town in Sri Lanka's southern coastal belt has improved its environment and the finances of its local government body through a garbage recycling project the cash saved on garbage disposal and money earned through recycling is being used for road improvement by the Waligama urban council. In 2006, the Waligama urban council decided to turn its garbage dumping ground into a solid waste management project site. Garbage disposed by the 68,000 households in the Weligama area is transported to the dumping ground at the edge of the city. Plastic and glass, which are not bio degradable, are separated from the 8 to 10 tons of garbage collected daily. The rest is of the waste is used to make compost, a fertilizer made of bio degradable waste. The process is simple and the outcome is profitable but a shortage of garbage has prompted the council to seek waste from neighboring towns as well.

This is a good garbage management project which can be getting a profit while recycling garbage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ways we can dispose Garbage in household

 

There are basically two methods used by households to get rid of solid waste, namely dumping and burning. Dumping of garbage is usually done in one of the following manners:

• By digging a (shallow) pit in the ground, usually in the garden, where the waste is dumped after dumping the pit is either filled or the waste is periodically burned.
  
• By simply throwing the garbage in the most convenient place. Usually this is either the roadside in front of the house, or some unused land (often a natural area) around the house. Garbage dumped by the roadside is often (infrequently) collected by local authority cleaners, or periodically burned. The lighter materials (plastic sheets, bags, and paper) are usually scattered by wind, animals and passing vehicles.
  
• By dumping the garbage in a place which is also used by others. This can either be a" formal" dumpsite, which is also used by the local authorities, or an informal site, which is more common. Informal sites can appear in convenient locations (unused land, often along main roads) as a result of a vicious circle: People keep dumping on the site because there is already waste there anyway, but the waste is there because people keep dumping it there. In the case of some smaller dumps of this type along main roads, the waste is
  

  periodically moved by the local authorities. In other cases the waste is often periodically burned by local residents.
  

  Another type of informal site can be a piece of "private" property that someone wants to have filled. See also below.
  

• By dumping the garbage on a piece of low-lying land (usually marshy land) for filling. This can be done on a small scale by individual households who simply want to extend their property, or on a larger scale (e.g. by also using municipal and/or industrial waste) to fill a larger piece of land for building. In the latter case the "owner" is usually a wealthy and/or influential individual.
  
• By dumping the waste into waterways or water bodies, where it is (periodically) washed away. This is mostly seen in (low-income) areas that are located along rivers, canals, lagoons, tanks, drainage channels or the sea.
  

 

 

 

The earlier practice was to collect garbage by hand cart laborers and then dump on the roadside at temporary dumping points to be collected by truck/tractor later on.  These temporary dumping points were very unpleasant and also garbage was flown to roadside drains during heavy rain.

The divisions started to collect garbage directly by the trucks and tractors thus eliminating about 50% of temporary dumping points. House to house scheme was very successful in middle and high income areas but not in low income areas. Through the LASDO Project, a methodology has been implemented in two pilot wards (Modera and Narahenpita) to clearly and easily identify the underserved settlements which are facing solid waste problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

WCP Wetland Conservation Project

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980,

Free University of Amsterdam (NL), Dienst VEB, Januari 1999

A qualitative and quantitative comparison of the German and Dutch

Government policies on packaging waste

http://environmental.scum.org/

Putting plastics in litter perspective

http://www.saep.org/forDB/forDB9906/WASTEplasticsARG990604.htm

IRMP Technical Report No. 1, December 1998

National Strategy for Solid Waste Management