Geographical Measurements to Resolve Issues Associated with Municipal Solid Waste Disposal

Abstract

The municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, collection and subsequent disposal has become an acute problem in Sri Lanka, since 80% of the waste are generated from the 24 Municipal Councils (MCs). The western province accounts for 60-65% of total waste collection per day. The common problems that are identified in the all most all the MC areas are high volume of waste generation, haphazard waste disposal, finding a geographically suitable disposal site and scarcity of land for some MCs within its MC limit. Accumulation of all these drawbacks create multifarious socio-environmental and health issues in the respective MC areas. Accordingly, the prime objective of this study is to identify such socio-environmental and health issues and to provide a possible solution in geographical point of view. Out of the existing three major agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Sri Lanka, both wet and intermediate AEZs were selected for the present study, following the stratified random sampling method and considered the volume of the solid waste generation, waste related issues, dissimilarity of geographical features and different height of elevation ranges. Total of 867sample households were selected, following the random sampling technique, based on the ratio of population density. The structured and semi structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The collected primary data were analyzed, using the appropriate analytical tools. The results revealed the different patterns of socio-environmental ill effects and human health issues of solid waste disposal and its volume, types and risk level are varied, due to the uneven geographical features. 75% of socio-environmental and human health issues are almost same in the selected study locations and 25% of such issues are varied from one study area to another, due to their physical characteristics. Further, this study found that 56.7% of female populations have been victimized with different types of health issues, than the males (43.3%). Similarly, 65.5% of children population, 75% of waste pickers and 70% of waste collectors/vehicle drivers have also been affected by multiple health problems, due to the direct contact with waste dumpsite. This study recommends to establish a mechanism for managing, monitoring and controlling all steps of MSW management process with great participation of all stakeholders. The integrated solid waste management (ISWM) system is a viable option for addressing this issue with comprehensive policy and process reforms.