New solid waste system in Colombo from tomorrow
Suraj A Bandara
The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) in a bid to solve the garbage
problem in the Colombo city will introduce a new solid waste management
system to be implemented from tomorrow.
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Mayor A M Muzammil |
The CMC under this programme will distribute a specially made bag
among all households. Items that can be recycled should be added into
this bag. Householders can include waste such as paper, cardboard,
polythene, plastic, plastic bottles, glass bottles, metal items, empty
yoghurt and ice cream cups, rubberised items and coconut shells into
this bag. These items will be recycled by the CMC.
"If the public in Colombo city does not follow this rule, CMC workers
will not collect waste from theses households. The public should support
the CMC to keep Colombo free from garbage," Colombo Mayor A M Muzammil
said.
The Mayor was addressing the media to introduce the new waste
reduction programme to be implemented covering the entire Colombo city
from next month at the Colombo Municipal Council yesterday. He said as
there is limited space for garbage disposal and no other alternative,
the CMC introduced this system as a solution to this issue.
"Colombo has a population of over 650,000. In addition, another
500,000 people visit Colombo daily. It is estimated that around 700
tonnes of garbage is collected daily in the Colombo city. The CMC spends
around Rs 1.5 billion for the garbage problem. We cannot spend such a
huge sum. This money can be used for other development projects," the
Mayor said.
The solid waste collection will be made compulsory for all citizens
in Colombo. Bags will be distributed free among all household and
business premises' owners. The waste separation has been the most
effective and efficient model practiced by other countries and we need
to experiment it in Sri Lanka too, Muzammil said.
He said this is not a permanent and final solution and a lot has to
be done to solver this problem.
The CMC will collect all organic waste as usual while other waste
would be collected once a week, the Mayor said. |
