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| Sunday, 25 September 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Garbage disposal problem by S. Leon Gunawardena It seems that disposal of garbage has become an unsolvable problem to the City Fathers of our Municipal Councils, although several steps have been taken to solve this problem. The Colombo Municipal Council entrusted the collection and disposal of garbage to Abans Co., a leading cleaning firm in the Island. This firm, having invested a considerable amount on the purchase of new garbage transport lorries etc. also employing a team of men and women to clean the streets attempted to keep the streets and the environment of the city tidy. However, the question of disposing several lorry loads of garbage collected from all over the city has become an impossible task, due to the non availability of barren lands to dump the garbage. It is reported that the Dehiwala-Mt Lavinia Mayor's house had been invaded by a group of people who are residing in a village close to the dumping ground protesting that it has caused a great health hazard to the entire villagers especially to their children. Meanwhile heaps of garbage being dumped by the city dwellers by the wayside of streets getting accumulated due to the interruption of the garbage disposal program of the Municipality causes a great health hazard to the City dwellers, ..............I have just pin pointed the above situation regarding the disposal of wastes....... With a view to enlighten not only the City Fathers but also the Ministers of the Central Government on how to overcome this burning problem as it affects not only the health of the citizens but also our tourist industry, as the tourists would think twice to visit our beautiful country due to its untidy condition. Although I am a resident of Galawilawatte, Homagama, I am writing these lines from the city of Markham in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. When my wife and I arrived in Canada, our son-in-law drove us in his car from the Pearson Airport in Toronto, to their residence at Markham, covering nearly 53 km within about 32 minutes, driving at a speed of about 100 kmph, which is the minimum permissible speed on highways. However we did not feel such a high speed as we were admiring the beautiful and clean environment we were passing, consisting of well planned housing complexes, apartments, factories, business establishments, Schools etc.., However, we did not see any waste material or garbage dump in vacant lands or by the vicinity of the huge factories and business places etc. There are massive super markets stored with all the requirements of the city dwellers. I did not notice any litter or experience bad smells at the fish or meat stalls. City dwellers strictly adhere to the instructions laid down regarding keeping the city and environment clean. I decided to visit the Web site of the Markham Municipal Council to get more information about the way they have overcome the garbage problem. Upon visiting the web, "Mission Green plan" (http://www.markham.ca/markham/channels/wastemgmt/ However the Markham Municipal Council had implemented a well planned project in this year with the assistance of the Central Government to recycle the tons of garbage. Green coloured bins with tight lids and 2 blue coloured boxes have been issued to each house, free of charge as shown here giving instructions as to what type of wastes are to be filled in each container. Also the householders have been advised to keep two small plastic containers in the kitchen to put the wastes collected daily, one for organic and bio-degradable materials and the other for the other waste materials, and empty the organic and 'compostable' materials into the green bin, and the others into one of the blue boxes. Newspapers, cardboard etc. are to be put in the other box. The garbage is collected once a week. To my amazement I found that the garbage truck is manned only by the driver. There are 3 compartments in the lorry and he gets down and empties the waste to the assigned cage. Perhaps this may be due to the limited man power available in this country. Also, all these services are handled by the private sector. Markham city is a very populous city with lots of business organisations, factories, offices etc. covering a vast area, may be in the size of our entire Western Province. I understand that all the garbage collected is re-cycled by two massive recycling plants. So garbage is not a problem or liability to the Canadians, but an asset to them as various types of by-products such as composed fertilizers, papers, plastic materials etc. are produced by recycling, resulting in environment and economic benefits. So why not we take their example to tackle our burning problem? Perhaps our City fathers as well as the Government Ministers may have observed as to how the other developed countries have solved this problem on their visits to those countries. Therefore it is high time that they decide to implement a scheme to recycle the garbage. I am sure that one recycling plant would be sufficient to recycle the waste collected by the two Municipalities and the other local authorities in the Western Province. As the main by-product on recycling wastes is compost fertilizer, our farmers will be highly benefited because of the fact that they will be able to buy their requirements at an affordable price. Also a considerable amount of savings on foreign exchange can be anticipated on the import of fertilizer. Therefore, it is high time that the Central Government takes immediate steps to introduce a recycling project of the garbage taking into consideration the environmental, as well as economic benefits which can be achieved. Now that the Finance Minister must be very busy with the preparation of
the budget for 2006, so why not our Ministers concerned and the City Fathers
propose to him to include Rs.10 Token Vote in the Draft Estimate, 2006. I am
sure that the Government will be able to negotiate foreign aid easily for
these important projects. |
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