Sri Lanka to convert garbage dumps into urban parks next year

Sri Lanka will convert two large garbage dumps in capital Colombo into urban parks next year as part of a city beautification program, Megapolis and Western Development Minister Champika Ranawaka said Tuesday.

Addressing the Colombo City Beautification Awards Ceremony in Colombo, Ranawaka said that garbage could no longer be dumped at the Meethotamulla or Bloemendhal garbage mountains and plans were afoot to construct a large scale national landfill site in Aruwakkaluwa in Puttalam, northwestern Sri Lanka, to address the government’s garbage disposal issue.

Ranawaka said that all steps would also be taken to ensure that no harm is caused to the environment when constructing the Aruwakkaluwa sanitary landfill.

With no proper garbage disposal in place, garbage from the capital was dumped at the Meethotamulla Garbage mountain for years with some environmentalists claiming that nearly 800 tons of solid waste was added daily.

The mountain, however, caught fire in April and collapsed, burying over 100 homes and killing over 20 people.