Current practices of hazardous waste management in Central Province and development of proposal for effective management

Abstract

The nature is being polluted severely with hazardous substances day by day because of the modernization of the civilization in the world. The resultant of this carelessness causes irreversible illnesses such as cancer, lung diseases, kidney failure, skin problems and etc. Therefore establishment of hazardous waste management system is important to eliminate the hazardous substances from the environment. In this research, Central province of Sri Lanka was taken in to account to do questionnaire survey and data collection on household hazardous wastes and healthcare wastes for the analysis of current practices of hazardous waste management. Stratified random sampling method was used to estimate the amount of hazardous wastes generated in the target area. According to the analysis, averagely, 5,500 Tons of household hazardous wastes produced in the central province per year and 50 Kg of healthcare wastes (Sharp, Infectious and Liquid Chemical Wastes) produced per day in an average hospital in central province. Most of these hazardous wastes are being managed in a haphazard manner due to many reasons, especially, lack of knowledge, lack of awareness and economic condition of the country.