We need “State Of Emergency “ or “Martial Law” if state wants to solve Garbage Problem !
Posted on October 12th, 2016
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
By now you have seen a fire in Badulle -Garbage Dump and Airforce has to be mobilised ,We saw the mayhem to Jaela when the residents seized the road transportation by blocking Colombo Negombo Road ( luckily we have Airport Highway ,hence access to airport was not blocked .
Meethotamulle garbage mount is growing and rain is at the door step ,Whole area will start stinking .Methane Gas accumulated underneath may explode like in Salawa if hot weather continues
Army ,Airforce ,Navy and police will have to move in .State wants to shift the garbage mount somewhere like Muthurajawela .Good Christian neighbours of Jaela will block Elakanda Road and set fire to CMC lorries ,Again law enforcement authorities will have to come to rescue .
We have two options
Under a presidential order shift all dry garbage to Port City and cover with sand
Or
Transport dry garbage to Muthurajawela 200 acres and fill with layers of sand an garbage .
If environmentalist go to courts fight back claiming a national emergency .
We need Martial Law of Emergency like we had during JVP garbage and LTTE stink”
If Philipine president goes on rampage to get rid of Drug Menace why cannot our President do the same
I am sure that Cardinal and Buddhist Clergy will approve above
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
October 13th, 2016 at 1:56 am
You cannot bail garbage since it is a putrefying material. If you try to bale garbage which is a putrefying material, it would create a huge heath hazard. The issue of solid waste management should be left to those who are experts on that subject since those who do not know about the subject will suggest completely inappropriate solutions which will create massive health hazards.
You cannot dump garbage in and around Muthurajawela since it is a wetland and a nature reserve and it is against the law to disturb a nature reserve in any way. Wetlands are disappearing fast and we should preserve whatever wetlands we have and Muthurajawela is an important wetland and it must have protected status as per Sri Lankan law and therefore garbage cannot be dumped near a wetland in this way.
About the garbage problem, the normal practice followed is to reduce the amount of garbage produced by following the P plus three R’s concept. This is prevent, reduce, reuse and recycle. Therefore, children and households should be educated as to how to prevent, reduce, reuse and recycle rubbish. Householders can be provided a compost bin and taught how to compost the organic part of the garbage. There can be separate collections of items such as tin, plastic, paper, cardboard, glass etc. which can then be recycled. In fact recycling bins can be installed in every town so people can bring items to be recycled and dispose of in the recycle bins. All these measures will reduce the final amount of garbage from households that needs to be disposed at a landfill site.
A designed land fill site can be used to disposed of garbage. Designed means using a liner to prevent leachate from the putrefying garbage entering the water table, and methane gas collection pipes installed to collect methane gas which is also produced when the garbage putrefies. On top, leachate should also be collected and treated in a wastewater treatment plant. As you can see, a designed landfill site is expensive to build. During the previous government’s time, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya landfill sites were semi-designed. The Bloemendel garbage site was also capped by a Malaysian company. An alternative is to install a number of incinerators and to produce energy using the waste to energy concept. However, this is also expensive and will produce greenhouse gases and toxic substances which as need to be disposed in a careful manner. For a tropical country, landfilling is best rather than incineration.
There was a plan to use a disused quarry site in Puttlam to dispose of garbage from the Colombo area. It is OK as long as the quarry floor is made impermeable using a liner so that leachate from the putrefying garbage does not reach the water table. Here a designed landfill will have to be built to treat the leachate and to collect the methane gas which will be produced. A wastewater treatment plant will also have to be built.
The best solution to the garbage problem in Colombo is to educate children from kindergarten level up the concept of prevent, reduce, reuse , recycle. Provide each householder with a composting bin to compost the organic part of the garbage and distribute leaflets educating the public as to how to compost the organic part of the garbage, have separate collections for recyclable material such as plastic, tin, paper, cardboard, glass by provision of coloured bins to each household to distinguish recyclable material from garbage to be disposed of at a landfill site. Finally provide each householder a separately coloured bin to collect that part of the garbage to be disposed at a landfill site.
Also in each town and village, install a number of large bins so that villagers can dispose of recyclable material such as plastic, tin, glass, paper and cardboard which should then be collected for recycling by the local council.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:06 am
The design of landfill sites, siting of landfill sites, citing of incinerators (if to be used), all these are issues that should be handled by a qualified civil/ environmental engineering consultancy since design of landfill sites is part of the subject of environmental engineering. This issue is not about some ‘environmentalists’ protesting but all over the world, landfill sites are designed by civil/ environmental engineering consultancies. Environmental engineering is a subject taught as part of the civil engineering degree at university.
The CEA will only provide consents as per the environmental laws of the country, As far as my knowledge of the law, if Muthurajawela has a protected status as a nature reserve, it cannot be disturbed in any way as per the law of the land and the CEA will then not give their consent to any plans which will disturb a nature reserve in any way.
October 13th, 2016 at 2:28 pm
This BUNGLING government cannot even efficiently and profitably dispose of GARBAGE!
Under the MR/UPFA government, GARBAGE DISPOSAL was not a national problem, under Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s sure hand on the nation’s URBAN DEVELOPMENT!
No wonder the entire nation is in DISARRAY under the Yamapalanaya government; they cannot rvdn get rid of yhe GARBAGE!
BUNGLERS & FOOLS sinking into the mud, dragging us with them!