Eight tonnes of e-waste collected within Colombo every two days
The improper discharge of heavy metals by the electronic equipment has led to an increase in the levels of pollution in the water and soil with an impending disaster of serious illnesses according to medical specialists.
Chairman of the Central Environment Authority, Dr. Charitha Herath tells the Daily Mirror that with a disturbing eight tonnes of e-waste collected within Colombo every two days, the necessity for creating awareness on the danger has heightened.
In order to ensure electronic waste free Sri Lanka the Central Environmental authority in collaboration with 14 private companies representing the fields of information Technology, Telecommunication and electronic equipment a national programme for E-waste management has been initiated since November 2010.
‘Usage and improper disposing of electronic equipment have led to serious diseases. This programme will strongly contribute to minimize the adverse impact to environment due to electronic waste and help to make the public aware of the importance of electronic waste management.
The CEA also hopes that an innovative programme to award Green Awards to be held later this month would help in this endeavour.
Scheduled to be held on 23 August 2011 at the BMICH industries that belong to categories of Chemical and Petrochemical industries, Textile industries, Leather industries, Garment industries, Vehicle Service stations, Food and Food related industries, Metal crushes, Hotels, Medical services, Mines and mineral processing, Rubber and rubber related products operating with Environmental Protection Licence are encouraged to apply for the National Green Awards.
The Government, Local Government institutions and Schools which conduct Environmental Pioneer programmes also could apply for this award.
‘The main aim of this all-island programme is to promote sustainable management of the environment in order to achieve a greenish country through clean green environment.
The CEA hoped that this programme would lead Businesses, social groups and institutions into one common goal which conserved our environment, he added.
Selection of environmental friendly industries would be done by a Panel of Judges and selected firms would be presented with green awards.
Speaking on the precautionary measures the CEA has taken to minimize the threat of e-waste to the environment under the backdrop of the ever increasing use of electronic equipment he notes that a national level programme for managing Electronic waste within Sri Lanka would be commenced.
‘Electronic equipment disposed to the environment after use such as Computer parts, Monitors, Televisions, Mobile phones, Calculators, Audio Visual equipment, Printers, Scanners, Fax machines, air conditioners and all home electronic appliances damage the environment because of the toxic materials incorporated.
The aim of this programme is to minimize and manage the damage to environment due to e-waste.
‘There were two E-waste collecting programme within the Colombo metropolitan area and those two programmes collect more than 8 tonnes of electronic waste for two days.
You can contribute to this islandwide programme by handing over your home and office electronic waste to nearest E-waste collecting centre and calling 1919 to get more information on waste collecting centrers, he added.
Along with the Central Environmental Authority some of the private companies involved in selling and assembling electronic equipment in Sri Lanka including Sri Lanka Telecom, Mobitel, Dialog, Etisalat, Hutch, Lanka Bell representing the telecommunication field, Singer and Abans from the field of home electronic appliances, Metropolitan, E-Wis. Virtusa, ABC Trade and Investments representing office equipment and, Geo Cycle and Green link in the field of bulk waste disposing sector have joined the programme.
Commenting on the general environment conditions in the country, Dr. Herath maintained that despite an intensive development programme following the war, all efforts have been taken to ensure that these development efforts were initiated in a sustainable manner considering all the environmental, economic, social and physical factors.
‘Development activities which took place in the past without considering those aspects have drawn numerous bad impacts to our environment.
Based on the prior experience the CEA has initiated to conduct Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) together with the Disaster Management Centre, the UNDP, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Economic Development and National Physical planning department and several other institutions.
Up to date SEA have been prepared for the districts of Gampaha, Hambantota, Jafna, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Kilinochchi. After the SEA development activities in these districts had to comply with its recommendations.
‘This SEA hopes to identify strategic places for development in land utilization within these districts because this kind of systematic study for this region has never been done before.
‘Environmental sensitive areas like forests, water catchments, mineral resources and other important resources would be identified and the possibility of using them in the development process and infrastructure development in a sustainable manner would be assessed.
He noted that a recent survey conducted by CEA on industries operating in Sri Lanka revealed that 6,980 industries were operating in an illicit manner without Environmental Protection Licence.
‘These illegal industries are threatening the environment because they are highly polluting industries. Industrial pollution has become a disastrous situation by this time. The research and special project unit of CEA have conducted this industrial survey and with the findings of the survey CEA is taking legal action against these industries.
As a result of this some of the industries had to close down and some of them have to pay fines, obtain Environmental Protection Licence and so on.
‘There is a timely requirement to get adapted to environmental friendly culture at households as well as small or large scale industries.
Under the powers vested by the National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1987 CEA is taking legal actions to conserve environment in Sri Lanka. CEA is using tools such as Environmental Protection Licence, Environmental Impact Assessment, and strategic environmental impact assessment to protect the environment in Sri Lanka.
CEA hopes to make a clean and green Sri Lanka through its service excellence, he added.
He also spoke of an Environmental Resource Information Data Base developed under the CEAto guide Sri Lanka towards sustainable development.
The CEA has developed this data base for each district as Environmental profile by using its expertise knowledge on remote sensing and spatial data bases.
“The data base will allow identifying spatial distribution of various environmental systems, Environmental protective areas, water catchments, houses, industries, archaeological sites, religious places etc.,” he said.
According to Dr. Herath these environmental profiles would guide in the preparation of development plans to achieve sustainable development. It is also expected to provide guidance on land use planning in order to get optimum usage of land and to decide the spatial distribution of land uses without conflicting each other.
“Because of that this data base will important for development planers, researches in the field of environment, university students and various other professionals to provide data for their works. Till recently people had a difficult time in collecting data. But this environmental profiles or data base will provide data about entire island in one place without difficulties such as wasting time money etc. The data base has been developed by the Research and Special Project Unit of CEA with the fullest support of its field officers,” he said.
“As Sri Lankans we need to be aware of globally important environmental systems, but there are plenty of cases which we are destroying our natural heritage regardless of its importance. There is a timely requirement of conserving our natural environment and all of us have to give our fullest support to conserve our environment.
It is in order to achieve this target green awards 2011 have been organized by the CEA, he added.Dr. Herath obtained his first degree BA (Honours) from the Peradeniya University and his Masters from the Sichuan University in China.
He later proceeded to the US and read for his doctorate on political theory at the Ohio Athens University. On his return to Sri Lanka he joined the Peradeniya University’s Department of Philosophy as a senior lecturer prior to taking up the post of Chairman CEA.
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