"කොළඹ කුණු අපට එපා": We must start reducing, reusing and recycling our waste!

Very recently, the tragedy at Meetotamulla, in the northeastern outskirts of Colombo, where a massive garbage dump came crashing down on people living on its perimeter, has generated street protests around every garbage dump in Sri Lanka. About 40 persons are confirmed dead and several more remain unaccounted for giving rise to speculation that the actual death toll may be even higher. Unfortunately, this was a tragedy that could be seen to be coming. Those living in the vicinity of the garbage dump had been agitating for many years about the dangers posed to them. In the meantime the mountain of garbage simply grew and grew and grew.

Meetotamulla, where hundreds of tonnes of garbage from the city of Colombo are dumped every day.

So, what should the politicians, as well as the layman of the street, do to seek a lasting solution to the garbage problem?

The Three R’s, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, all help to cut down on the amount of waste we throw away. They conserve natural resources, landfill space, and energy. The concept is nothing new to rural Sri Lanka. In the absence of garbage collection by local authorities in remote areas, it is often dumped in a pit at the back of the house. In time, these rural folk, who are mainly engaged in agriculture, have realized the potential of producing their own manure. Of course, when we progress, machines take over clearing of waste, and space has become the biggest problem for dumping waste. With the ever-growing population, there is very little space to dump all the garbage we produce.

On Our Mother Earth day (ලෝක මිහිතල දිනය 22nd April), the Sathkara school class discussed what to do to stop the dumping of garbage everywhere. According to Siripala, the children committed themselves to the following action plan:
1. Clean the home gardens and separate the garbage.
2. Organise a shramadana to clean the local stream, and raising public awareness through a poster campaign.
3. Arrange a meeting with the parents with poster presentations and a competition.
4. Award gifts to the children, both to the winners and to those participating throughout the programme.

We hope the 3xR programme of Sathkara will be successful. We say with Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran: 'A little knowledge that acts, is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.'

Marcel Proust once said:‘The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes.’ To paraphrase this, the path to conservation is not to blame politicians, but in finding a means to communicate our conservation message.