Panagoda Army cantonment shows the way:

Solid waste turns into an asset

By Ranil Wijayapala

Managing the daily collection of garbage, not only in urban areas but in semi urban areas too has become a critical issue at present. The changing consumer pattern of the present generation and the increased collection of waste would create an environmental hazard in today's context, if there is no proper mechanism to manage the daily collection of waste.

Any urban citizen will be aware of the problems faced by the urban population in the country when their garbage is not collected by the respective Municipal Council, Urban Council or the Pradeshiya Sabha for a week long period.

The recent reports indicate how the Municipal Councils such as Colombo, Moratuwa, Kaduwela and other local authorities face difficulties due to the lack of a disposal ground for the daily collection of waste in their local authority areas.

If you could imagine the problem faced by a single family when garbage is not collected on a daily basis, you could imagine how it would affect a place where more than 10,000 people live as residents and on official duties.

Although we hear of complaints about the management of garbage, the Sunday Observer came across one place in the Colombo suburb which as a Government institute has set an example to other government and private institutions and organisations on how to overcome the waste management within their periphery.

The Panagoda Army cantonment near Homagama bordering the Highlevel Road and Godagama -Malabe Road extends to 682 acres of land. It is the biggest Army camp in the country accommodating nearly 10,000 people. It includes families residing in the complex consisting nearly 256 quarters, about 3,000 disabled soldiers serving in their regimental headquarters within the cantonment accommodating eight Regimental Headquarters, other officers and rankers and also the Army men and woman engaged in different sports on residential basis as it accommodates all sports complexes of the Sri Lanka Army.

Since it has limited accessibility to civilians due to the security sensitivity, the collection of garbage within the cantonment has to be managed by the camp, collecting the garbage daily from each quarter and building including the kitchens that cater to the meals of the officers and other rankers engaged in their duties.

Jeewa kotuwa maintained in a garden

A compost bin

Storing recyclable waste seapartely in containers

"It was a colossal task for those in the administration of the camp to keep the camp clean as more than 4 to 5 tons of garbage is collected within the camp daily", Officer Commanding of the Administration Company of the Panagoda Army camp Major Niroshan Perera said, while comparing the situation that prevailed before.

"We have to deploy trucks to collect the garbage on a daily basis and dump them in the dumping ground of the Homagama Pradeshiya Sabha some 4 kilometres from the camp", Major Perera said.

The administration of the Panagoda Army camp faced a problem when the Homagama Pradeshiya Sabha demanded Rs.4,000 per truck load of garbage dumped in their yard at Homagama saying that the Pradeshiya Sabha too has to pay a fee to the Karadiyana dumping site in the Piliyandala area.

The situation prompted the Commander, Security Forces Headquarters (West), in-charge of the camp to take new measures to manage the situation. In the latter part of last year they had to pay Rs.4000 daily for the dumping of garbage to the Homagama Pradeshiya Sabha.

The present Commander Security Forces Headquarters (West) Major General S. R. Manawaduge with the administration company discussed ways of overcoming the problem as there is no provision in the Army to pay such an amount for the dumping of garbage as it would exceed Rs.120,000 per month.

With the consultations of the Waste Management Authority of the Western Provincial Council they decided to distribute compost bins to each resident in the camp and introduced a system of jeewa kotu ( structures created using sticks) to gather dried leaves and grass collected in the gardens.

Provincial Minister of the Western Provincial Council Udaya Gammanpila, assisted to distribute around 100 compost bins to the camp to initiate the programme and the balance 400 to 500 bins were purchased with the camp funds.

With the introduction of this programme those in the camp were instructed to separate the garbage in their premises into organic waste (kitchen waste) and recyclable waste such as glass, cardboard, papers, coconut shells, tins, cans and other plastic items. Then a system was introduced only to collect the recyclable waste twice a week and reject the garbage if they are mixed with organic waste.

"The introduction of the compost bins led to protests from the top hierarchy of the camp as they complained that they cannot keep the stinking bins in their gardens", Major Niroshan said. However, with the interference of Major Gen S.R. Manawaduge, the soldiers handling the garbage in the camp were given access to the compost bin of each household and building and they were educated on how to maintain the compost bin properly without creating any bad odour. "For instance we asked them to cover fish waste with a paper or with some leaves so it would't emanate bad odour and attract flies", Major Niroshan said.

The other complaint was that the bins would not be enough for a week. "We showed them if they managed it properly they could use it continuously as the waste would turn into compost within 3 to 4 weeks if they added some dried leaves. After they turned into compost they can remove the compost from the bottom of the bin and use it for the plants in the garden. In this manner the bins could be used continuously", he said.

They also introduced gardening competitions to create awareness on the handling of compost bins and jeewa kotuwa so that they could use the compost within their premises for their own plants.

"In this manner we could reduce more than 50 per cent of the garbage collected from the camp daily and now we deploy only a tractor to collect the recyclable waste twice a week and collect only about one or two tonnes of recyclable waste", Major Perera said.

"Earlier we spent around 30 litres of diesel for the garbage truck every two days, but now we use the tractor only to collect recyclable waste", he said.

"Now we collect the recyclable waste and separate them into glass material, paper, cardboard and metal and store them separately in containers . When we have enough stocks of glass we transport them to the glass company and earn around Rs.10,000 to 20,000 per month", he said.

"The kitchen waste such as left over food and vegetable waste are directly supplied to the pig sties and we earn around Rs.200,000 per month", he said. They also earned a considerable income from the coconut shells collected from households as there is a good demand for them.

With the introduction of the new system amid protests the camp earns the funds needed for the welfare measures of the camp. "Now we have recovered all the money spent for the compost bins and are earning money to reconstruct roads within the camp and the fences around the camp ", he said.

They have also renovated the more than 50 year old sewerage pumping and treatment plant at the Panagoda camp.

The system installed at the camp in the early 1960s is now functioning well to treat the sewer collected from the camp and release it to a nearby waterway after treating it at the treatment plant.

"Now there are no complains from residents about releasing untreated sewer into the waterways and bad odour emanating from it as we are releasing only treated waste into the environment in the form of water ", Major Niroshan said.

"We are making use of the sediment of the treated sewer as fertiliser and provide for rubber plantations", he said.

"We could do these things because of the leadership given to us by Commander, Security Forces Headquarters (West) S.R. Manawaduge and his commitment to implement the programmes to get rid of waste", Niroshan Perera said

The excellent story of the Panagoda Army cantonment in managing its solid waste has set an example to other institutions whether in the government sector or the private sector, and they too can emulate this path and be free from the big problem of solid waste.