Kotte Solid Waste Management Strategy

Problems in Waste ManagementSolid Waste Management in SJKMC area is affected by several major problems.They include:Inadequate national policy and supportCoercion without assistance: The national Strategy on Solid WasteManagement and provincial level policies and strategies are not adequately harmonizedwith the needs and capabilities of the local governments. SJKMC is no exception. Theexisting policy and nationally promulgated strategies are calling for ideal municipalconditions for zero-waste without any serious attempt to assist the local authorities tobuild their internal capacities. The Supreme Court too is exerting pressure on the localbodies without exerting corresponding pressure on the higher levels of government.Coercion without assistance will not help deliver the goods. As explained here in thischapter, the local authorities like SJKMC are handicapped by a blistering array ofproblems which are insurmountable in the short term without adequate financial andtechnical support from the national and provincial level governments.Lack of landfill sites: Like all other municipal councils in the ColomboMetropolitan Region, SJKMC has been struggling to find suitable land for sanitary landfilling.In a highly urbanized region, finding large extents of land away from mainhabitations is difficult. With increasing levels of public awareness on the health risks ofdumpsites and growing public aversion to regular plying of garbage trucks through theirlocalities, the search had always been futile. The attempt of the provincial government toconsider SWM as a regional issue and thus find a common site for landfill too has failed.A large part of the SJKMC territory consists of low-lying and marshy areas. Therefore,necessarily, landfill sites are not available within the city. The Provincial governmentwhich only has the authority over allocation of lands must step in to solve the problem.Absence of a city strategyThe Absence of a City-level SWM Strategy: The Sri Jayawardenapura – KotteMunicipal Council does not have a solid waste management policy of its own. As a result,SWM is viewed solely as an engineering responsibility for collection and disposal. Solidwaste management is no more a technical issue. It needs social, fiscal and administrativesolutions as well. Under the UN-Habitat’s SCP programme, the city administration hasbegun to take a more comprehensive look at the problem. The current exercise is a resultof that new view.Conventional Approach: The city’s current approach to solid waste managementsystem conventional. Its stress is on collection and disposal and not on reuse andreduction. This approach does not encourage the residents to enter into any obligatorysocial partnership with the municipal SWM effort. ‘We dump – They collect’ is the