Solid waste generation, characteristics and management within the households in Sri Lankan urban areas

Abstract

Municipal Solid Wastes are becoming a multidimensional threat to the Sri Lankan environment. Especially the solutions are needed to reduce the amount of the environmental problem caused by haphazard solid wastes disposal done by the local governments and the public Even though the country’s Solid Waste Management (SWM) strategy is aimed to reduce the amount of final disposal by introducing reuse trends, proper collection methods, source segregation and improved recovery of recyclables still needed to be established. But there should be the knowledge of the amount of waste generation and their composition to guide for the appropriate solutions which the methods can be implemented. Solid Wastes generation from the urban households would cause many problems than in the rural. The consumption rates and the patterns are different from each High, Middle and Low income levels in the urban areas and as well as from the urban areas to the rural areas, so that the waste generation pattern also different from each other. This study discusses the consumption of consumer goods and the solid wastes generation at Gampola UC area, Sri Lanka. Data were obtained through a Waste Amount and Composition Survey which was done throughout 7 consecutive days of a particular week in August, 2012 with consideration of different income levels of the households and a Non-Collection area from the UC limits. Household wastes consisted of kitchen wastes, garden wastes, paper & cardboard, plastics, textiles, rubber & leather, metal, glass, ceramics, hazardous wastes and E- wastes, the proportion of each waste was approximately 61.5%, 8.92%, 3.02%, 3.25%, 0.71%, 0.25%, 0.58%, 0.97%, 0.04%, 0.23% and 1.26%, respectively. The waste generation rates for High, Middle, Low levels and Non-Collection areas are respectively 0.44, 0.31, 0.27 and 0.55 kg/pers/day. It has indicated that there is a relationship between the household income and the total waste generation.