1. INTRODUCTION
With rapid growth of population and urbanization, environmental pollution by solid waste has gotten to be a serious issue all over the world. Solid waste refers to the range of garbage arising from animal and human activities that are discarded as unwanted and useless which do not have an economic value. In Sri Lanka, absence of efficient collection and transportation of wastes and their middle treatment and final disposal by reasonable methods have contributed to aggravate the environmental contamination caused by solid waste. Currently local authorities use open sites for the final disposal and that pollute the environment in many ways. Therefore, disposal of solid waste on open sites has become a critical issue in the society. Empirical data was collected by vising Karadiyana Open dump site and by discussions with the residents live near the site. Further, newspaper articles, acts, ordinances, journals, books and internet resources were used to gather data. This paper will focuses achieving following objectives.
To identify the Environmental issues caused by the Open dumping, to identify the current practice of solid waste dumping, to analyse the existing legal framework on solid waste disposal and to give recommendation to overcome from this environmental issue.
Important Problems related to solid waste
The currently adopted predominant method of solid waste is open dumping mainly due to low cost and less processing involved. This practice cause serious effect on environment and some few pollutions are listed as follows.
• Air pollution
Methane gas (Biogas) produced during anaerobic digestion of solid waste contributes to global warming and on the other hand, it is highly inflammable, and as a result, uncontrolled solid waste dumping sites could catch fire. Sometimes solid waste is burned and it produce very harmful chemical compounds to human and other living bodies such as Dioxins and furans. These chemicals are not soluble in water, but are fat soluble and persisting in the environment for a very long period and these chemicals can be circulated within the food chains for a long period and can be accumulated in human bodies.
There are two recent incidents which have been reported in Sri Lanka regarding methane emission. In 8th of March 2008 a methane explosion triggered in Bloemendhal Garbage Mountain and in 2017 March a similar incident reported in the Meethotamulla garbage mountain.
• Water pollution
Water pollution is another way of environment polluted by the solid waste. According to the research conducted by Mahees M. et al (2011), 89% of respondents stated that Pinga Oya is mainly polluted due to solid waste disposal.
Karadiyana is the largest dumping site in South Asia which is in extend 37acres. In November 2015, Environmental Foundation Limited received a complaint concerning the pollution of water bodies from the residents of the area, some of whom were suffering from respiratory ailments due to the stench of garbage. After an in depth investigation the Foundation had informed the relevant authorities to halt the dumping garbage in this wetland but they were still not taken adequate steps to avoid this pollution.
• Soil pollution
Due to solid waste both chemical and physical properties could be changed. Such as pH and soil structures could be changed, and thereby growth of plants and other important soil microorganisms could be badly affected and in the long-term degradable material in Solid waste such as polythene reduces infiltration rate of storm water, and as a result, the ground water level could be lowered.
• Destroying biodiversity
Due to improperly-managed waste disposal sites, surrounding ecosystems could be damaged seriously affecting its biodiversity. It is a very common that herbivorous animals get killed due to consumption of solid waste especially polythene and this seriously affects the biodiversity.
As it discuss above environment is polluted in many ways due to solid waste. Aforesaid facts are only the direct issues of the solid waste. There many other indirect issues on the environment causes by the solid waste.
If garbage deposited to Muthurajawela, that would have caused serious issues in biodiversity. Muthurajawela is a wet land and one of the greatest paddy fields in the country.
2. LEGAL PROVISIONS
Now it has been clear that environment is polluted by open dumping of solid waste. There are several laws and regulations which enacted to manage the solid waste for the purpose of protection of environment.
The National Environmental Act provides the powers and duties of the Central Environmental Authority and it contains the basic legal framework for preventing the solid waste disposal into environment. It is also important to review the legislations of the local authorities as it impose an obligation on local authorities for the removal and disposal of solid waste.
This paper focuses on legal provisions of National Environmental Act and Local Authorities legislations only.
NATIONAL ENVIRONEMNTAL ACT
Provisions regarding the Environmental protection by solid waste is found in the National Environmental (Amendment) Act No. 56 of 1988 and National Environmental (Amendment) Act No. 53 of 2000. Let we analyze important amendments regarding the environmental protection from solid waste.
Section 23A – In earlier provision there was a total prohibition on discharging waste into the environment and activity resulting such discharge required a license. In the amended section Minister may determine which activities would pollute the environment and which require a license. This discretion leads to lots of short-sighted decisions by the minister and it was well expressed in the Meethotamulla incident.
Section 23J – No person shall discharge waste into the atmosphere…
Section 23H – No person may pollute inland waters…. Detrimental to any beneficial use of those waters.
Section 23K – No person shall pollute the atmosphere… detrimental to any beneficial use of the atmosphere.
Section 23N – No person may use land for the disposal of SOLID WASTE… detrimental to soil.
Section 23S – Removal of litter. Where the Central Environmental Authority is of the opinion that any litter deposited in any private or public place is detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the public or poses a hazard to the environment, it may direct the person responsible for depositing such litter or the public authority whose function is to dispose of such litter or to take such action in relation to such litter as may be specified.
It is also important to note that the amendment brought in 2000 imposes criminal liability on persons who acts contrary to these provisions.
LAWS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES
The primary duty for the removal of waste in their local regions is with the local government authorities, to be specific, Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas.
| Section 129 | Section 130 | Section 131 | |
| Municipal Council Ordinance No.29 of 1947 | Duty of Council as to conservancy and scavenging. | All refuse collected to be property of Council | Places for disposal of refuse and keeping equipment |
| Section 118 | Section 119 | Section 120 | |
| Urban Council Ordinance | Duty of Council as to conservancy and scavenging. | All refuse collected to be property of Council | Places for disposal of refuse and keeping equipment |
| Section 93 | Section 94 | Section 95 | |
| Pradeshiya Sabha Act | Duty of Pradeshiya Sabha as to conservancy and scavenging. | All refuse collected to be property of Pradeshiya Sabha. | Places for disposal of refuse and keeping equipment. |
This table shows that only the section numbers have been different in these three statutes, the provisions have been almost similar. Therefore, analysis of one statute gives an analysis to all the local authority legal provisions applicable to waste disposal.
Section 129 and Section 131are important to analyze as it impose an obligation upon the local authority for the disposal of waste.
Section 129 imposes a duty upon the council as to conservancy and scavenging. Section 129 states as follows;
“It shall be the duty of the Council, so far as is reasonably practicable, to take all necessary measures in every part of the Municipality—
(a) for properly Solid Wasteeeping and cleansing the streets…collecting and removing all street refuse;
(c) for the proper disposal of all street refuse ,house refuse and night-soil.”
This sections clearly stated that council has a mandatory duty to take all necessary measures in every part of the municipality for the proper disposal of all waste.
The most important section is the section 131 of the ordinance which made a direct obligation on the council for disposal of refuse or waste.
Section 131 of the ordinance stated as, “The Council shall, from time to time, provide places convenient for the proper disposal……… shall take all such measures and precautions as may be necessary to ensure that no such refuse, night-soil, or similar matter removed in accordance with the provisions of this Part is disposed of in such a way as to cause a nuisance.”
Therefore, this section made a mandatory obligation on the local authorities to “take all such measures and precautions as may be necessary to ensure that no such refuse… it disposed of in such a way as to cause a nuisance”.
Section 131 of the Municipal Councils Ordinance gives for this obligation and there are corresponding provisions in section 120 of the Urban Councils Ordinance and section 95 of the Pradeshiya Sabha Act.
3. IMPLEMENTATION IN PRACTICE
As it discussed earlier the responsibility of collecting and dumping solid waste lies with the Local Authorities. Currently, there is no proper strategy over disposal of solid waste. Since disposal of solid waste at present is done by open dumping in low lying areas .by many local authorities in Sri Lanka, the general public has faced many problems including bad odour, pollution of surface and ground water resources, increased population of flies and scavenging animals, etc. Due to lack of proper mechanism of solid waste disposal it creates many number open dump sites.
Initially, Bloemendhal was the main solid waste dumping site of the Colombo Municipal Council. But the local authorities were unable to manage the solid waste in proper way and the garbage mountain was grew quickly, creating lots of environmental issues.
With the above and several incidents environmentalists and people affected by the garbage mountain starts protesting and fighting against dumping solid waste in Bloemendhal and finally Supreme Court issued a verdict to halt dumping all dumping of Bloemendhal.
The Meethotamulla open waste dump was the alternative to the open waste dump in Bloemendhal, when a Court Order in 2009 stopped dumping in Bloemendhal. Without much option, the government decided to move all garbage to the Meethotamulla Dump and a new garbage mountain was in the making. The threat of Meethotamulla solid waste dumping point grew and in March 2017, a month prior to the garbage slip, residents’ state that the methane emissions had caused a fire in the garbage dump. But still authorities have no proper strategy to overcome this matter. They continue to dump garbage into open sites.
In present Karadiyana become the Open dump site for most of local authorities in Western Province such as Maharagama, Kotte, Homagama, Mt. Lavinia etc. Researcher had gone to see the site and had discussed with the residents who are living near the open dump site.
They said approximately 150-200 garbage Lorries come to the site per a day. And they said this solid waste is mingling to the Bolgoda Lake and creates massive environmental pollution. In a recent newspaper also it had pointed out the environmental pollution caused by Karadiyana Open dumping.
It is clear that in practice government do not have proper plan for solid waste management, therefore in practice they dump garbage in open sites.
4. LEGAL PROVISION ANALYSIS
We do not have a separate law on pollution control, or to address this solid waste issue. The provisions regarding this issue are found in the National Environmental Act. These provisions are contained in Part IV A entitled ‘Environment Protection’ and Part IV B entitled ‘Environment Quality’. Then with the 13th amendment to the constitution the collection and disposal of the solid waste in their respective divisions were devolved to the local authorities. The powers were delegated through various laws and regulations.
Even though there are laws for the protection of environment by solid waste, we are still experiencing massive environmental pollution due to solid waste. This shows that there is something wrong with the implementation or with the law.
The current practice on the solid waste is changing sites of garbage dumps. Bloemendhal to Meethotamulla, Meethotamulla to Dompe or Ja-Ela or Muthurajawela. It is something like, Robbing A to pay B which means taking from one merely to give to another.
The purpose of the existing laws on solid waste is to strike a balance between need to dispose of solid waste and need to ensure that the impact of such disposal on the environment is minimal.
It seems that existing law was fail to strike the balance between the aforesaid two interests. Therefore, it emphasize that existing law is not adequate enough to combat this issue for the protection of environment.
The amended brought into National Environment Act generates not only the advantages but also serious threats. Such as Section 23A gives an unnecessary discretion to the minister on deciding which activities require license. One of the major complaint made by the people who affected by the Meethotamulla incident is that politicians acted only for their benefit, but not for the environment. Before this amendment there was a total prohibition o discharge waste into the environment and activity resulting such requires a license. But with this amendment it gives unnecessary discretion to the minister and creates lots of issues such as Meethotamulla garbage slip.
Section 23J,H,K and N state that land cannot be used for the detrimental to soil, water and atmosphere. But this implied recognition is not strong enough to protect environment from solid waste disposal. If there is express recognition such as “No person or entity may dump solid waste resulting detrimental to any soil, land and atmosphere” would give more protection to the environment. If there so environmentalists may base that provisions to bring a case against authorities for improper solid waste disposal.
In local governmental laws it impose a duty on the local authorities for the disposal of solid waste and to take all such measures and precautions not to dispose solid waste in a way to cause a nuisance. This provision imposes a legal obligation upon the local authorities, but there are no specific provisions to elaborate what is meant by all such measures. This provision would be stronger if this provision followed with specific guidelines.
After considering all the facts it can conclude that existing legal provisions are not adequate enough for the protection of environment from disposal of solid waste.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations have been made for the solid waste disposal without or minimum environmental pollution.
• To have separate law on ‘Environmental Protection’
Figure 1 Control Pollution Act – UK
In many countries we can find specific environmental protection laws such as in UK as shown in figure 1. But in Sri Lanka we can find environmental protection laws under two chapters in National Environmental Act. Therefore, it is recommend to have separate law for the protection of environment by solid waste.
The importance of having a separate act for control pollution is that it can impose descriptive legal provisions. It is shown the figure 1 that how descriptive is that section 2(waste disposal plans).
• To follow down-top approach
One of the major issue in our law making is that gap between the law and actual society. That gap made it difficult to implement the laws in practice. Therefore, government must make the laws effective and implementable. Normally in Sri Lanka it follow the top-down approach. They make the law and ask the people to follow. This has to be changed and writer recommend to follow down-top approach in making laws. Because people who are in the solid waste management are more connected to the issues, problems, loopholes and in which areas laws has to be strengthen.
• To make laws to handled solid waste without any disturbance by politics
Everyone know that there is heavy influence of politicians over solid waste management especially regarding issuing license. Therefore, it is recommend to have establish independent authority free from political agenda to perform their duties.
• To have an Private-Public Participation for the solid waste management
Solid waste can be recycle and earn lots of money from it. Therefore, the work can be made more effective and efficient by having private and public participation for the solid waste management. Bangladesh recently established a partnership between Dhaka City Corporation and Japan International Corporation Agency to handle the solid waste and earn great success from it. Therefore it is recommended to amend the laws to establish Public-Private partnership for the waste management in Sri Lanka.
• To enact laws for which made as gazette notifications
Gazette notification such as No. 2034/33, No. 2034/34 and No. 2034/35 made on September 01, 2017 has minimum impact over the protection of environment. Therefore, it is recommend to amend the relevant acts with these gazette notification.
6. CONCLUSION
Disposal of Solid waste has become serious issue in Sri Lanka. Lack of proper disposal planning made this issue more and worst. There are many legislations in Sri Lanka to provide legal framework for the disposal of solid waste and to impose legal duty on central government and local authorities. Even though there are number of legislations relating to solid waste management in practice none of these laws taken into consideration. In practice, local authorities dump solid waste in open site regardless of the law. This erroneous practice serious environment pollution. Environmental pollution caused by the solid waste can be prevent by proper waste management. In this paper it made several recommendations to overcome from this issue for the protection of environment.
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