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Factors governing an integrated solid waste management program: A case study at Nuwara-Eliya district secretariat division
By Dewwanthi Karunarathna | January 18, 2008
Solid Waste Management is one of the main national problems in Sri Lanka and integrated solid waste management (ISWM) has been recommended as the only solution. However, ISWM is hardly successfully practiced anywhere in the country due to many inherent reasons. This study examines the governing factors for the success/ failure of an ISWM program within 3 LAs including Municipal Council (MC), Urban Council (UC), and Pradeshiya sabha (PS) in Nuwara Eliya Divisional secretaryarea. The main objectives of this study were to identify these governing factors and ways to overcome constraints in implementing a IWMS successfully in the country.
For this case study 135 households (HH) representing high, medium, and low income categories were selected from 3 LAs in the DS and field surveys were conducted for a period of three months. These households were given 3 bags of different colors once a week and householders were requested to separate the waste into different types and collect separately once a week. Waste collected on the other days was given to the municipal collectors. This sorted waste was measured to assess participation. The willingness to engage in an ISWM program was gauged through questionnaire surveys asking for their willingness and also by actually monitoring their continuous participation in the solid waste sorting exercise throughout the study period. A second questionnaire survey was conducted on the same group of people to assess whether their response has changed after actually engaging in the ISWM exercise. In addition surveys were also conducted to assess the Duties and Responsibilities of LAs with regard to SWM, Practices of 3R (Reduce, Recycle, Re-use) systems by LAs and HHs, final disposal mechanisms and Public awareness and attitudes towards issues related to SWM etc. Interviews were held with LA officials also for these information. The study revealed that the dominant SWM problems in the LAs are, lack of suitable land for final disposal, lack of public participation and cooperation, among others.
The questionnaire survey conducted at the beginning of the study revealed that willingness to sort out SW was found to be 98.33%. However after the three month period it was found that only 86.6% have participated in the actual sorting out and the second survey has shown the response to be 87.39% for willingness to sort. At the beginning willingness to Re-use or Recycle of SW was 77.69%. Statistical analysis showed that this factor is related to the chief occupants educational level, Income and the service provided by LAs. 53.3 % participants have indicated willingness to compost if a compost bin is provided whereas only 19.17% have indicated willingness to compost if a bin is not provided. In addition it was revealed that only 28.7% of the participants are willing to make an additional payment for a better service and only 52.63 are willing to assist the local authority resolve SW problems in the LA. The waste generation quantity data which were statistically analyzed showed that waste generation depends significantly on the income levels and the locality. According to the results it can be concluded that ISWM involves a wide variety of tasks, involving both individual and team work. Since factors such as education level, income level also govern participation in an ISWM program a common practice cannot be targeted for all. Specific programs should be developed for different neighborhoods and targeted awareness creation is compulsory.
A G Amarananda and N J G J Bandara
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
Topics: Pollution control, symposium 2006 |
July 26th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Good day! I’m a student from the Philippines and found this article a useful reference for a requirement in school. I would just like to know what “LA” and “DS” stand for. It looks like these weren’t spelled out in the article. If it’s not much of a problem to reply the soonest possible time, I’d appreciate it. I’m delivering my report this Monday, 28 July 2008. Thank you very much for your help!
July 28th, 2008 at 7:46 am
LA stands for Local Authority and DS stands for Divisional Secretariats of Sri Lanka