Colombo waste problem cannot be solved by the Municipal Council alone, Mayor Vraîe Cally Balthazaar says, urging public cooperation.
Colombo waste problem cannot be solved by the Colombo Municipal Council alone, Mayor Vraîe Cally Balthazaar has said, calling for united action by institutions and the public.
The following is based on a post shared by the Colombo Mayor on her social media account.
Is there a waste problem in our city? Yes, there is.
But according to the Mayor, it is not a challenge that can be solved by the Colombo Municipal Council on its own. Building a clean city requires the combined cooperation of all relevant institutions as well as the public.
Yesterday, a special discussion on waste management in the city was held with several institutions, including the Urban Development Authority, the National Housing Development Authority, the Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation, the Presidential Secretariat, Clean Sri Lanka, the Department of Railways, the Western Provincial Waste Management Authority and the Environmental Police.
Although waste collection is a service carried out by the Municipal Council, the Mayor said it is equally important to keep vacant lands belonging to government bodies and other institutions clean.
Such vacant lands often become unauthorized dumping sites, making their maintenance a shared responsibility.
She also noted that the Waste-to-Energy plant, where waste has been deposited since the end of January, has been partially or fully closed from time to time, disrupting waste collection and disposal operations.
Despite these challenges, the Mayor said municipal teams are doing their utmost to keep the city clean.
Another major issue, she said, is the failure to properly segregate waste.
The Council can only accept properly segregated waste, but in many cases it receives mixed waste instead.
Therefore, proper household-level segregation of waste is a responsibility shared by all residents.
During the discussion, all institutions agreed on practical targets to prevent unauthorized dumping, keep public lands clean and make Colombo a cleaner and healthier city.
The Mayor urged the public to cooperate in building a cleaner Colombo.
Not only Colombo, it should include areas around Colombo suburbs- like Koswatte, Malabe etc.
I don’t think people walk along the so called pavements where drains are covered with cement/ concrete slabs. The stench from the blocked drains are unbearable. Along the markets are some restaurants too. You wouldn’t want to go into the restaurants if you are standing around the drains. Of course, people who travel by cars don’t ever see or come across the bad smells it’s only the pedestrians who are rushing about breathe these toxic air. Please do look into this too.