By Ifham Nizam
Garbage in the cities and suburbs has caused numerous hardships, not only to the public, but to the government as well, says a senior minister.
Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa says the government is finding it difficult to bear the massive cost incurred on garbage disposal.
Yapa told The Island yesterday that the public may have to even pay to dispose their garbage in future if the current trend continues.
He has said that such a situation was likely to arise in another two decades given the large amounts of garbage being disposed every day.
He also said that discussions were being held with regard to charging money for garbage disposal in the main cities in the country.
According to the Minister, the Central Environment Authority (CEA) is doing its utmost to put an end to the garbage issue. The Island learns that a few countries had given the green light to assist Sri Lanka to tackle the garbage issue.
According to Yapa, 1,000 metric tons of garbage is disposed every day in Colombo City and that garbage disposal has posed problems in the cities of Badulla, Kurunegala and Kandy.
One of the key advisors to the ‘Pilisaru’ Project, Dr. Ajantha Perera strongly believes that recycling and composting are the only solutions to the garbage problem.
She says when Sri Lanka is gearing to become the ‘Wonder of Asia’, there should be positive examples instead of negatives.
She says by going for recycling, the country will get a donation but none will get a commission.
According Dr. Perera, by recycling garbage, Sri Lanka could strengthen the agriculture industry and also create a number of job opportunities and have a healthy society by consuming vegetables and fruits from compost fertilizer instead of chemicals.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=41544
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