|
|
|
| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Fukuoka method of garbage disposal by Sumana Saparamadu Garbage has taken centre-stage in the media these last few weeks. Mountains of garbage, each causing a mountain of a problem to Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and other local bodies. To individuals it is no problem. Put everything into a Sili-Sili (polythene) bag and leave it outside the gate and be done with it. What next? At the Nugegoda end of Railway Avenue, garbage is piled as high as the roof of the adjacent shop, and the stench is over-powering. This is within the Kotte MC limits. How often their garbage van comes is anybody's guess. The other end of Railway Avenue is in Colombo 5. Residents have dumped all their garbage - household rubbish, left-over food, rigifoam food-boxes, water-bottles, yoghurt cups, etc., at the top of the road and it is impossible to walk on that side of the road, the garbage dump extends a few meters and the rain has made it one mass of muck. Pedestrians must perforce walk on the left and run the risk of being hit by a vehicle from behind or even by an on-coming one, for, though the road is narrow, it is much used by motorists to by-pass the Nugegoda junction. A company that has undertaken to collect garbage from a hostel does not come regularly now, their excuse being that there is no place to dump it. There isn't any land-fill left within reasonable distance from the city. Paddy fields and good arable land have become dumps for consumer waste and are full to overflowing. Marshes so essential to absorb rain-water are garbage dumps or are under concrete. An article in Asia-Pacific perspectives (September 2004) which I picked up at random from a pile of old magazines in our library caught my attention. It was captioned 'Solutions to Environmental Problems'. After its recovery from the destruction of World War II Japan experienced a period of accelerated growth from the 1960s into the 1970s. The increased affluence gave rise to a lifestyle based around mass production and mass consumption, resulting in massive amounts of waste materials. Land-fills were causing serious widespread pollution of soil and underground water. It was then that the Hydraulic Sanitary Engineering Laboratory in the Engineering Department of Fukuoka University started to find a solution to this problem. "Our research laboratory was established in 1967, when Japan was just starting to come to terms with its waste management problem." reminisces laboratory head, Professor Yashushi Matsufuji. "Back when nobody thought of waste management as an academic subject worthy of research, so we kind of had to feel our way in the dark in the beginning." In 1975 Fukuoka University worked in partnership with Fukuoka city to develop a unique approach to waste management that became known as the "Fukuoka method." This method involves laying a network of water collection and air ventilation pipes at the base of a landfill site. These pipes remove contaminated waste water from landfill material as quickly as possible, before it can leach into the surrounding soil. Fresh air entering the landfill via the pipes activates microbes in the landfill material and these purify the contaminated waste water as it is being collected. The article spells out the advantages of the "Fukuoka method." It maximises waste decomposition in the land-fill, and so it is environmentally friendly. Items such as bamboo, old tyres, and drum cans - easily found in most land-fills can be used to build the drainage and ventilation systems; thus the cost of set-up is low. Operation and maintenance after the initial construction are also relatively simple. The "low tech, low cost" nature of the method is particularly attractive to developing countries. The Fukuoka method has already been applied with great successes in Malaysia, Iran, and Mexico. These successes have drawn international attention to the Fukuoka method since the latter half of the 1990s. In fact the Fukuoka method has been adopted in several UN - supported projects in developing countries. If Malaysia, Maxico, and Iran have adopted the Fukuoka method why not Sri Lanka ! PS. This news item appeared in the Weekly Telegraph of 12 - 18 May 2005. Waste burning ruled safe Incineration seems likely to replace landfill as a way of rubbish disposal, after an independent review said the effects of emissions on human health were tiny compared with cooking and burning coal. The review, commissioned by the Department for the Environment found that
waste disposal had at most a minor effect on health compared with other
activities. Cancer, respiratory diseases and birth defects were all
considered. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
