This is a commentary on the life cycle management of solid waste and the application of Alternative Waste Management Technologies (AWMT) to treat waste.

The primary aim of this paper is to outline options available for devising an engineering solution. In fact, any long term engineering waste management solution should include a mechanism to tackle political and administrative interferences which could act as a hindrance to the implementation of solutions and also a methodology to comply with environmental compliance requirements.

The author, as a former engineer of Colombo Municipal Council, has a professional knowledge and interest on the waste management as well as on the application of international alternative waste management technologies.

CONTEXT

Catastrophic failure of Meethotamulla Garbage Dump has generated a huge social cry over the effectiveness of current waste management practices in Sri Lanka. It also brought the local government authorities to the limelight, highlighting their failures to apply the best-practice solid waste management technologies.

A renowned scientist from National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) investigated the failure and determined it was not a landslide, but a ‘lateral movement of the garbage dump on the peat layer below’1. As a former NBRO engineer who was a member of UNDP/UNCHS funded “Landslide Hazard Mapping Project”, in early 90s, the author concurs with this assessment.

Meethotamulla garbage dump had not been designed and constructed as an Engineered Sanitary Landfill. Hence, the structural failure of the freely stacked garbage mound was inevitable.

As a matter of urgency, the residents nearby the garbage dump should now be removed and relocated elsewhere. As a long term action, the garbage mound should be removed from the present site. If the garbage mound is left there, the groundwater contamination due to the dispersion of “leachate” would be continued and the methane emission, polluting clean air would go on for decades. .