The impacts of solid waste dumping in Hatton Municipal Council

Abstract

Waste disposal is a systematic action to manage waste from origin to final disposal. It includes incineration/burning, burial at landfill sites, or discharge at sea/ lake/ river/ and recycling. Dispose of waste as a unit for the removal and destruction or storage of used, damaged, or unwanted industrial products. The disposal of solid waste is a priority environmental issue in Sri Lanka and at present, it has become a national concern. Hatton Municipality is located in the Nuwaraeliya District of the Central Province with an area of 4.2 Km2. As well as identifying the impact of solid waste dumping on Hatton Municipal Council and proposing solutions to the impacts of garbage dumping were the main and sub-objectives of the study respectively. Moreover, primary and secondary data collection methods were used to obtain data for the study. In that sense, field visits, discussions, interviews, and questionnaires were used for the primary data collection, and the Hatton Municipal Council report, related articles, and books were used for the secondary data. The data obtained were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis to analyze the survey. Kuda Oya landfill closure, staff shortage, lack of transport facility to collect garbage, moving to other places to remove the garbage, improper disposal of waste, and lack of availability of a landfill site for the MC are the major reasons for the garbage dumping in the study area. Health-related issues, abhorrent impact, loss of land opportunity, and land degradation are the identified findings of the study. Eventually, specified suggestions including proper management of facilities, and financial resources allocated for solid waste management in the city by proper allocation of responsibility to labor working on waste management to monitor their activities, exploring low-cost technologies utilizing local resources which can be used for waste management in Hatton, put forward on the steps to be taken for controlling the challenges faced by the people due to improper waste management and for the effective functioning of Hatton Municipality.