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| Sunday, 14 September 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Cleaning up Colombo : Is the CMC talking garbage? by Neomi Kodikara
The unpleasant and nauseating odour emanating from tons of reeking garbage, pierces the nostrils even when the dump is miles away. At the end of Bloemendhal Road by the side of the limited access road to the Colombo port, we came upon a gigantic, smouldering tower of garbage. Beyond them I saw lofty stacks of collapsed cardboard and mountains of plastic bags. I have arrived at the city's main waste disposal site, where over 700 tons of garbage are being dumped each day by the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) trucks. A young man appeared suddenly beside the tower of garbage and raised a sceptical eyebrow. "What do you want?" he asked. I said I wondered how he happened to have so many sacks of cardboard. "I found them," he said. "And now I'm going to sell them." His thin, black arms supported a huge sack of cardboard on his head. As a small boy he imitated singers like Jotipala and often gave impromptu performances for neighbours. He was compelled to change his early ambition to become an actor or a singer when he entered his teens and learned to pick out recyclable trash to support his widowed-mother and two sisters. Malcolm went on to tell me that selling other people's trash was a great business. `I was doing odd jobs, like helping masons, but I gave that up a few years ago to try my luck in the garbage trade." Now 30 he is confident that he made a wise career move, "After all," he explained, "trash is this city's only inexhaustible resource." He makes around Rs. 300-400 a day. The garbage dump has become a home for thousands of squatters. Around 200 garbage collectors could be seen during daytime combing this garbage mountain. They eke out a living by scavenging waste plastic, packing materials, bottles and other materials for recycling. Adults are not the only ones who depend on the recyclable items to make money. A score or two of children could be seen during daytime rummaging the stacks. This is the only mode of income of many, while low income families and many of the city's working poor do it to boost their meagre wages.
These unemployed men - the poor slum and shanty dwellers, who depend on the city's refuse to scrape out a living are at work at dumps from morn till night. No matter how strong may be the stench of rotting garbage wafting over the area or how odious the crunch of the mud that squeezes through their toes, they must go through stinking garbage to find what they can and redeem a few rupees. The need to survive is harsher than the stench and more dreadful than possible health hazards at the garbage dumps. "I have no choice. When my children cry in hunger I forget about the difficulties and get back to the dumping grounds with a gunny bag," says Samson Dias, a father of two school children. "Nobody likes to go through other people's garbage. We do it because there is no other way," he mumbles while walking away. Another man with a gaunt face, shuffles towards the stack of garbage, digs out the rotting litter, when he finds something usable, a piece of cardboard or paper he puts it in his gunny bag. Suddenly, he loses control of his body, sways to and fro and then falls on the reeking garbage heap. "kudu mathe,"say his co-collectors. Priyantha who did not want to give his last name or age explained how he finds cardboard by rummaging through garbage sacks. "It is not just picking up cardboard or paper. We have to go through every bit of dirt to find some items that could be of any use and bring money. They are not readily available." Ananda Kumara (46), has been depending on scavenging for five years as his family's only source of income. "I too earn around Rs. 300 per day." That's all. He is in a hurry, refuses to answer my series of questions, saying if he gets late he will be the loser of the day. Grey-haired Arumugam Ravindra, claims that he is only 38 years old. He runs a place to exchange recyclable items for cash, deals with 60 to 200 regulars. He says that a fulltime collector can make Rs. 300 a day, if they can bring in 200 kilos. "Most guys are capable of collecting about 100 to 300 kilos a day," he added. They are paid Rs. 1.50 for a kilo of cardboard and he sells it at Rs. 2.50 a kilo.
Our next destination was Rajagiriya, along Butgamuwa Road in Madinnagoda, which is being used as a dumping ground for garbage collected from the Sri Jayawardhanapura Kotte Municipality. Kumara (30) is one of them who has been here collecting garbage for three years. By selling cardboard and empty cans he is able to earn a handy sum of money, nearly Rs. 500 a day. Unmarried Kumara is one of those victims of drugs. Pushing his heavy cart loaded with all his worldly possession he moves along the streets to sell cardboard and tins he collects from the garbage dump. It is a hard life. He must collect hundreds of bottles and cans just to make enough money to pay for food but he does not complain. "This is what I am used to I am not complaining." He is too used to this way of living, he does not feel like switching to another, easier and less troublesome one. "Isn't it better than begging from door to door for an odd job to scrape a little money?" he asked me. Lal (38) is a long-standing scavenger with 18 years experience at garbage heaps, collecting `valuables' that give him an adequate sum of money. Madinnagoda is his regular spot. He collects mainly coconut shells, for a sack of which he gets Rs. 40 and he too earns around Rs. 500 a day. This is the only income for him to support his family with three children. He has been at the `Bloemendhal dump' before and as there were about 200 collectors he has to choose a less competitive place. Being at those dumps a little less than one hour made my head ache and gave numerous other sick feelings. Yet those who frequent these places are quite used to the odour. "I have worked at garbage dumps for 18 years but I never suffered any health problems. I never use any detergent but now I am quite used to it," Lal says. The residents near Madinnagoda dumping site joined forces to launch a protest demanding that the authorities prohibit garbage dumping, which is reponsible for most ailments they suffer from. At Bloemendhal we heard a quite different story. Shanty dwellers near the dump flocked around us, "Are you from any authority trying to stop dumping here? Garbage dump does not cause any problems to us, in fact it is our only source of income." There are about 2,000 families living by the garbage heap who eke out a living by collecting recyclable materials. The CMC, Deputy Mayor Azath Sally says that dumping at Bloemendhal will be stopped as soon as the Urban Development Authority has cleared a site for sanitary land filling in the Colombo metropolitan area. For the past eight years the CMC is said to be paying approximately Rs. 400,000 a day (depending on the tonnage of garbage) to a private contractor to flatten the garbage dump at Bloemendhal Road and spray chemicals to reduce the stench. However, scientific disposal of the garbage is not carried out, instead the contractor has built hundreds of shanties for the people of the area and is 'looking after them' well. Is all his good treatment, merely a means of keeping them quiet, so that he can continue to get the lucrative contract? It is pathetic how those in authority push this problem under the mountain of garbage at the expense of the weaker section of the city population. The CMC has imposed strict rules preventing the press from entering the site. Taking a photograph of the dump from outside is at your risk, as the thugs on the payroll of those responsible for the dump are keeping a vigilant eye on anyone whose movements evoke suspicion. Even the residents could not express freely the suffering they have to undergo. Several thugs eyed us suspiciously. "They have nothing to complain about, mahathaya looks after them very well." They flung brief answers to my questions, cutting off the tenants. Though they said that all was well with them, the look in their eyes betrayed them. "We face many difficulties. But there are people out here eyeing us, if they catch me talking to you, I'll be in danger," a middle aged man, clad in a shabby sarong and shirt remarked and vanished in a moment. Unfortunately these people are not the decision makers. They are the forgotten lot. They are voiceless or rather their voice is suppressed by their abject poverty. Nothing could they do when garbage is dumped right at the doorstep. There were two toddlers playing near the dump, flies were hovering over the whole place and children breathing the gases generated by the rotting garbage. As the camera clicked one looked at us. His face was gaunt, his limbs scrawny, with dull eyes he stared at us. How long are you to keep your eyes closed, ignoring our problem for your own convenience? seems to be the question he silently poses. |
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