Solid waste separation, a must after June 1

Disna Mudalige

Mixed waste will not be accepted by the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) from households in the Colombo city after June 1, CMC solid waste management director engineer P Thangamyil said.

He said from June 1, the garbage should be separated into two groups as for composting and recycling before disposal from households.

Refuse removed from the kitchen and empty king coconut etc should be collected separately for composting, while paper/card board, polythene/plastic, plastic bottles, glass bottles, metal items, empty yogurt and ice cream cups, rubberised items and coconut shells etc should be collected separately for recycling.

Thangamyil said recyclable items are accepted once a week whereas solid waste collected for composting are accepted as scheduled.

"Disposal of solid waste in the Colombo city has become a major problem in the city due to the unavailability of suitable land for land filling. A huge quantity of solid waste, about 700 -750 tonnes per day, is collected within the Colombo city area.

There is no option to this problem but than minimising the solid waste, and it cannot be done without sorting out the solid waste," he said. Thangamyil said a special programme to minimise the waste generation, an urgent need for waste management in Colombo city, will be conducted with the assistance of the Environmental Police and the Army.

He said an awareness programme to separate waste in households in Kirulapone, Pamankada East, Narahenpita and Thimbirigasyaya is scheduled to be held on April 27 and 28 with around 200 participants of the Environmental Police and the Army, following a plan to cover the whole city before May 15.