Tiny commitments from a thousand

homes mind separating matter!

Thursday, 25 May 2017

Some may be wondering after Meethotamulla where all the
Colombo waste is going. However, I do have a feeling that most
had no idea whatsoever where things were disappearing into until
the pictures of Meethotamulla came through their wide screens.

Initial Court orders of a few days to Karadiyana and Dompe, etc.

met with strong opposition and those directions are no more
taken. It is not the mayors who have to face the popular music
but the tractor drivers and sanitation workers.

The absence of a place to deposit would mean CEB lamp posts

perhaps getting buried with bags filled with household waste
which in turn would attract animals of varying sizes as one need
not guess about the attraction of fast food outlets to the animal
world. It is an interesting social mystery why lamp posts are
preferred for this particular purpose.
 Post-Meethotamulla we all
discussed the importance of waste segregation and doing your bit
at home whenever possible. Media outlets did allocate some
prime time slots for getting this message across. Time invariably
passes and Sri Lankans do demonstrate their unique ability to
listen and forget!

While one may oppose the display of a picture depicting a dead

body being pulled out of the pile of collapsed garbage and
buildings at Meethotamulla, in a call for action to do your own bit
first, our action or rather the reactions sadly led us to interpret
that they unfortunately did die in vain! We as a society enable
mistakes to happen and never fully react positively to a situation
taking whatever the lesson from an event. How many such
situations can we recall!?
Meethotamulla disasters life lessons

The Meethotamulla disaster had many life lessons to those who

believe in bagging garbage and simply forgetting the rest of the
journey and associated impacts, to those who were warned of
danger and saw the cracks appearing yet perhaps ignored the call
perhaps in favour of more payments or the fatal attraction to
secondary economic activities courtesy the dump, decision
makers who had many a chance yet went on business as usual,
etc.

A collection of bags from a thousand places when placed over a

small plot of land over time can give rise to a mountain of
garbage with the potential to kill and we have unfortunately
witnessed just that. One should not think that a nominal payment
of a property rate to the Pradeshiya Sabha or a municipal council
is going to absolve one from the responsibility of a generator.

Some of these prevailing rates are really insignificant and actually

not worth the effort of collection and issuing a receipt in my view.
Yet with such payments we expect a service of such high
excellence. It is simply inexcusable that we have allowed such a
situation to exist up to now. With a figure of 0.8 kg of solid waste
per person per day in urban areas, we appear to top the league
table in the region for waste generation. Yet our knowledge and
the commitment to be part of the solution are far from
satisfactory.
The waste keeps coming

I had the privilege of visiting the place where currently the

Colombo waste is finding its way. Some have really risen to the
immediate needs and probably have taken additional
responsibilities to their shoulders. In a system where the circulars
rule and sense has to take backstage, it is a pleasure to see
teams who tread where even fools may hesitate.

Fortunately the intention at present appears to be not to create

another mountain starting from scratch. Plenty of space with lot
less receptors the show can go on for a number of years.
However, this is not the intention of the group. Yes for a small
number of days till a process transformation occurs dumping with
a soil cover perhaps is the order of the day as there is no other
viable option. It is also interesting to see how purists react when
pragmatists are at work! Hope all strength is given to those who
are bravely bearing the brunt of the smell and the burden but
planning all the time towards that better solution.

However, my take from the visit is that despite significant media

broadcasts the waste keep coming and the community at large is
still interested in getting the garbage out rather than doing what
they can and getting the right party to do what they cannot.

Trucks of varying sizes keep coming in and discharging their

contents. The presence of wet organic loads is obvious. However,
it appears that there is some segregation is taking place as in
quite a few cases the organic fraction appears to be significant.
Now if one takes a further step then this load interestingly can
reduce too!

What they should be doing is attending to the organic portion of

ones waste. This is by far the most significant component and
still on site this is clearly evident. If one takes care of this portion,
there would be much less to deal with by others and almost all of
the rest can find different uses. That is the portion where we can
easily indicate for wealth to reside!

There is wealth in the bio residue too energy and fertiliser yet
those need some careful attention and some dedicated attending
to derive those values. If neglected on the other hand this portion
is quick to demonstrate via putrid offensive smell! The cardboard,
plastics, aluminium cans and metals are not capable of the latter.
That is why if we segregate these, the collection of these can
happen may be once a week and then driven direct to recyclers
via a transfer station.

As Sri Lanka lacks a developed food industry the degree of

similarity of organic waste in Colombo is quite similar to that of
the semi urban and the rural. The absence of a food process
industry in turn also results in part of the lorry load of fruits and
vegetables from provinces to be moved into dumps of Colombo
straightaway. Yes we have been discussing post-harvest losses
from time immemorial without some firm action. Hence waste at
every step is what we have to observe still after all those well-
intentioned seminars and projects.
Taking care of ones waste

In Greater Colombo we have at maximum around 500,000

households. Colombo is known to generate around 700 MT of
MSW per day. Considering that industries do not have the option
of discharging their waste along with household waste, one could
have a plan where near zero waste households are promoted as a
goal.

Taking care of ones waste within can have a tremendous impact

on the waste management infrastructure of today. The impact is
definitely very high as we do not have a processing option for the
scale of waste that is currently present in Colombo. With the UDA
sanctioned projects now slowly moving forward, in a two to three
year time period, there will not be this issue at least at this
magnitude. However from today till then we do have an issue and
the population should be sensitive to the requirement.

The pressure that we have today can be converted into a positive

outcome by going beyond the easy steps and internalising some
work to happen within. These tiny commitments this act of
separation and the second act of composting and biogas can
transform Colombo if carried out in some scale. Starting from a
thousand the number can grow and Colombo then will be known
for something quite positive.

Publicity we can do without

In 1989 a writer for National Geographic on a special issue of

waste unfortunately picked Colombo in the following manner A
solid waste consultant back from Sri Lanka tells me what he saw
when the trucks reach the dumps of Colombo, the capital. The
people rush forward first, then the cows ahead of the pigs and the
goats because they are bigger. Last the crows. A miserable way of
life? Undoubtedly

It certainly was Sri Lankas bad luck to get figured in that way.
Now in 2017 international news and social media buzzed with
Meethotamulla and the number of dead again with garbage at the
centre. Between 1989 and 2017 we appear to have done nothing
much overall.

Well, this was publicity that we can do without. However, we can

watch haplessly post-event how media reacts. Yet, if we learn and
engage instead of allowing repetition, we can take charge and
transform this city of ours. We do not have millions in our capital
city. Colombo could still be manageable and if we unleash some
creative and constructive behaviour the city can be transformed.
That is why lessons should be learnt and implemented.

Execute at speed should be part of the mantra as we have lost a

lot of time. All that is needed is all our minds taking a little bit
more responsibility and collectively these would add up to a real
big value. Media should give publicity to thousands who do join in
for zero waste! They can spice up the act if they feel airing good
news is boring but they must join in as otherwise sufficient
momentum cannot be generated to reach the tipping point!
Posted by Thavam