|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 10 November 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Science & technology: Reduce waste generation In year 2002 municipal garbage collection per day in Colombo was 780 tons per day. But after the commencement of 3R system (eg:- separation of Recyclable Items at the source) under the solid waste management project of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) the day's collection of garbage has reduced to about 630 tons per day. Under this recycling project, garbage in different areas of Colombo city are collected separately into bags marked as paper, glass and polythene according to the designated national colours. Once the separated garbage is brought into Collection centers further these items are separated by a trained group of workers. Paper is sorted out again as cardboard and paper while glass is separated according to the colour. Various types of polythenes such as polypropylene, high density and low density polythenes and plastics go into different heaps. Finally these sorted materials are diverted from waste stream to the recyclers. The organic garbage from these areas and all the garbage from other areas are collected and dumped in 16 acre site in Bloemendhal in Colombo 15. Huge mountains of garbage smouldering all the time is an irksome scenario to the passers by and a huge threat to the health of the people living in the area. Small amount of the organic waste from Bloemendhal is trucked to a composting plant in Sedawatte where garbage is converted to compost. The capacity of this process is not enough to get rid of even the daily collection. In our country per apita garbage production is approximately 0.6 kg per person per day, which is lower than the value of 1 kg per person per day in a developed country. The CMC spends lot of money and labour on garbage handling, but still it is a looming problem to all the Colombo city dwellers. In solid waste management the world has looked into several other methods based on reducing the waste generation rather than incinerating, dumping or landfills. According to the website of US Environmental protection Agency (EPA) practice of Three Rs reduces the waste. Reduce the amount and the toxicity of trash you discard Reuse containers and products; repair broken equipments and use Recycle and buy products with recycled contents as much as possible Reduce: waste prevention can be a successful method of reducing waste generation. Practices such as two-sided copying of paper and the reduction of the transport packaging by the industries will be beneficial on waste generation reduction. Other than the environmental benefits transport packaging reduction may reduce the cost and subsequently the price. Reusing: items by repairing, donating or selling them reduces waste. Simple steps like refilling the bottles, purchasing refillable pens and use of pencils etc. goes a long way in environmental protection. Recycling: turns materials that would otherwise become waste into valuable resources and generates a host of environmental, financial and social benefits. Recycling conserves resources for the future, prevents emission of green house gasses and water pollutants, saves energy and stimulates the development of greener technologies. By optimizing the 3Rs method, a paradigm shift in the way we approach the waste issue occurred in early 2000 with the introduction of the "Zero Waste Concept". The GrassRoots Recycling Network, the preeminent US Zero Waste Organization, defines this concept as follows. Zero waste is a philosophy and a design principle for the 21st century. It includes 'recycling' but goes beyond recycling by taking a holistic approach to the vast flow of resources and waste through human society. This maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or market place. Implementation of Zero Waste relieves environmental problems from deforestation, resource depletion, global warming, energy depletion, over-consumption, loss of biodiversity. This concept aims at eliminating rather than managing the waste. Zero Waste initiatives are being adopted in many countries like Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Denmark to achieve the zero waste goal over the years. The main aim is to have no landfills in between 2010 and 2015 and to recycle every component and which take years to break down. But it is not only about recycling and diverting waste from landfills and incinerators; it envisions the restructuring the production and distribution system to prevent waste from being manufactured from the outset. As responsible citizens, rather than throwing away garbage everywhere or sending it to the landfills or incinerators, we can maximize reuse, repair, recycling and composting whatever possible. Industrialists have to seek out material with higher efficiencies, redesign products and packaging those cannot be reused, repaired, recycled or composted by the people and extend their responsibility for the products and packaging by take-back, reuse and remanufacturing system. Also the governments can offer economic incentives for the industrialists who use renewable resources and encourage the growth of Zero Waste. Even in our country we can consider these ideas to solve our waste disposal problems and design a model which will be suitable to the lifestyle of our people. But the authorities alone cannot minimize or manage waste without the fullest support of the populace in each and every social stratum. (National Science Foundation) |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
