Garbage dumpers beware!

By Nadia Fazlulhaq

The Environment Ministry is planning to introduce new regulations which would enable it to increase the amount of fines and to take legal actions against persons who dump garbage on bare lands which are not being used and on the roadside.

“Imposing fines is one way to control people dumping garbage everywhere. We are hoping to get the Municipal Councils and the Pradeshiya Sabhas to monitor and fine the persons who dump garbage. If they fail to do this the Ministry would impose fines on those local bodies for allowing their areas to be polluted,” Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka said.

This decision was taken after a resident in Battaramulla was caught throwing garbage in a street in the Battaramulla area which was declared on February 5 as a ‘green zone.’“Although we have specifically declared this area as a green zone, we are hoping to extend this concept to many areas, especially in the Western Province, where garbage pollutes many areas” he said.

Minister Ranawaka said a programme, which has already received Cabinet approval would be launched in March where residents would be encouraged to turn household waste to compost by providing them with proper bins and bags to separate recyclable items and create awareness on keeping the environment clean. More than 200 isolated places in the Colombo District have been identified where people tend to dump garbage.