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Dumping unsorted garbage in Karadiyana: Ban temporarily relaxed

03 Sep 2020

  • Waiting for a proper mechanism 
  • Waste management agreement in final stage
By Sarah Hannan The Western Province (WP) Waste Management Authority (WMA) said the decision to ban dumping of unsorted waste to Karadiyana was temporarily relaxed until a proper mechanism is introduced to process the garbage that gets collected. “Garbage from seven local councils is dumped at the Karadiyana waste disposal site. We are yet to adapt a method to have separate sites to dispose segregated waste. Until we find a suitable alternative, we will have to continue to use the present site to collect the unsorted garbage,” WMA Director Nalin Mannapperuma told The Morning. In 2017, a waste-to-energy project was initiated at an adjacent site by Fairway Waste Management (Pvt.) Ltd. (FWM). The Morning contacted the project office to inquire on the progress of Phase 1 of their initiative which was stalled due to a delay in completing documentation. “The project was scheduled to commence a year ago, but there were concerns over the budgetary aspects of the paperwork. In the meantime, the ministers changed, the government changed, and again, we have a totally different minister with whom we need to discuss matters. The paperwork is at the final stage and once that is approved and signed off, we can commence operations,” an executive at the project office explained. When asked whether the agreement pertains to processing all the waste collected at the site, FWM noted that the agreement stipulates that they process the waste that gets collected after operations commence. They elaborated that processing the already dumped garbage at Karadiyana would require a different method including equipment to mine the garbage mountain and sort the waste, which would be costly.


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