Waste to Resources Conversion Model to Sri Lanka and Analysis of Unidentified Socio-Economic Leakages

Sustainable waste management is a prerequisite for all societies today to protect the environment and human health. The environmental burden caused by high waste generation rates should be effectively dealt with, since the link between economic growth and waste should be broken and decoupling should be achieved. Sri Lanka is facing a dilemma of how to effect economic development while preserving its rich environment and culture. As people’s lives and incomes rapidly change, traditional methods of waste disposal become increasingly inappropriate and detrimental to health. Existing organisations are taking steps to address the issues but, individually, lack the necessary network and linkages to effect widespread change. Most of the institutions are in their own silos without addressing the bigger issue with a holistic view. The paper is looked at the how experience in country specific on managing waste to resource conversion models and the consequences that are currently facing. How it should have being functioned in a sustainable manner. Further it analysis of key success factors of successfully running waste management system and waste to resources conversion models in other parts of the world, how such a system could have embedded to Sri Lanka. It identifies that this system is essential for Sri Lanka with Sustainable Development as the goal. It also addressed the socio-economic leakage that is not being addressed and no proper solution presently. There are limited statistics available of health trends over the past years that could reveal garbage related illnesses in humans, such as cancers, birth defects, respiratory disease, and impotency, related to the unmonitored dump sites located in wetlands and low-lying areas.Keywords: Waste to resources conversion, Socio economic leakages, Sustainable mode

WASTE HUMAN HAIR-AN OIL RECOVERY MATERIAL PAR EXCELLENCE

The problem of oil pollution is today becoming a topical issue with two recent incidents atColomho harbour (due to a breakdown of a Cf'C pipe line) and at Kirinda (due to abreakdown of a salvaging operation or a ship). These incidents sometimes cause too muchreaction in some quarters. However. pollution from this source is not a new phenomena asservice stations scattered allover the island release oil to surface waters, drains or land.Some of these discharges also rind their way into the sea via river outfalls. Most importantlya majority of the service stations are closer to the coast as much of the economics in SriLanka are confined to the coastal belt, What has been rcalised is that in Sri Lanka yet thecapability does not cxist to handle a problem of this nature in an effective manner, It is alsofelt that there is an urgent need for a mechanism to take effective action in an event of thisnature.The study concentrates on an observation made in the United States by a hairdresser in thestate of Alabama, which. was reported as a short piece of news in a US trade journal. Theaffinity of oil to human hair has been found to be high and this ohservation is subjected tosome theoretical and experimental study. Results from the practical findings arc presentedhere. 11 is shown that there are many ways of utilising this affinity in oil pollution control.There is potential to utilise the characteristics in a skimming device or as an adsorptionsystem. It is found that human hair adsorbs, rather than absorbs. oil which means thatinstead of bonding with the hair. the oil is retained in layers on the surface of the hair stands.Few types of devices have been constructed and tested and the results are quite positive andencouraging.As the method involves removal and recovery of oil. the potential exists in this way 1'01' oilrecovery and reuse which is quite advantageous.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AIR EMISSION INVENTORY AND ITS BENEFITS

An air emission inventory is an essential planning tool in environmental management of theatr shed. Today the state of the city's and suburhs air shed is fast hecuming unsausfucror,and a recent fundamental rights case initiated by a Non-governmental organisation to drawthe attention to this fact succeeded and has forced the authorities to accelerate implementinggurdclincs and practical steps in a short time span. When reviewing standards It IS <ccn thatwe established certain standards in cases even below the suggested WHO guidelines andimplemented precious little in a technical way thus leading to the gradual deterioration 01the air shed over a period of time.In all these evaluations an air emission inventory is quite useful as a development planningtool. At present Sri Lanka does not have such an inventory for any region or locality and thesteps taken to develop an inventory for the Sapugaskanda area an area of highindustrialisation is discussed in this paper. Both stationary and mobile sources areconsidered. Some air pollution assessment modelling was done to develop data and thesehave also been validated from the monitoring data availableThe need for an Air Quality Index (AQI) is also stressed as this is also a 1111SSll1gelement inthe present management system. A suggested scheme is given and some data IS analyscd forthe indication of air shed quality.

Investigation of the Presence of Heavy Metals in Plastic Toys Available in Sri Lankan Market

Many toys for children are partly or totally made of plastic. In these plastics, additives such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr) and mercury (Hg) are added as pigments, fillers, UV stabilisers and plasticisers which are used to alter the properties of the material or to improve the production process. These additives, unreacted starting substances and impurities, can migrate from the plastic. As young children chew, lick and suck frequently on their toys, they can ingest certain amount of these compounds. The aim of this study was to identify the presence of heavy metals in plastic toy samples collected from market. Total of 145 plastic toys were screened on-site using handheld X-ray Fluorescence spectrometer (Skyray instrument-Genius 3000XRF) in Colombo Fort and Pettah area. The XRF device equipped with beryllium-window Silicon Drift Detector and 139 eV resolution was held on to the surface of the product and measurement was triggered for 45s in Plastics Mode. To eliminate the possibility of contamination, dust was removed prior to the XRF measurement. The built-in intensity correction method of the device corrects all deviations from samples of irregular geometric shape and uneven structure and density. The imported plastic toys were randomly selected from wholesale shops, retail shops and road side stalls considering accessibility to middle and low-income families. Results of the study revealed that the plastic toys contain heavy metals; Pb from 30.34 to 4,469.09 mg/kg, Cd from 15.09 to 1,140.73 mg/kg, As from 15.53 to 46.02 mg/kg, Cr from 15.21 to 247.78 mg/kg and Hg from 28.12 to 94.92 mg/kg respectively. Out of these 8.97% show high level of Cd and 1.38% show high level of Pb. However, the concentrations of Cr, As and Hg are under the permissible limits as per the testing standards by Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive. The permissible limits as per the testing standards by RoHS directive are 100 mg/kg for Cd and 1,000 mg/kg for Pb, Hg, and Cr and As. These results of the present study revealed that some toys are potential sources of heavy metals.Keywords: Plastic toys, Heavy metals, XRF, Chemical screenin

Uncovering Industrial Symbiosis in Sri Lanka-Exploring a Possible Approach

Most of the industries in the country generate a considerable amount of waste which are either open dumped or disposed without due consideration of the environment and ecosystem. The haphazard disposal of the untreated waste is growing in to a major problem in the country due to high cost of treatment for industries, lack of infrastructure for industrial waste management, ineffective enforcement of environmental regulations and insufficient capacity for waste management of local authorities. This paper presents a study conducted to analyse waste generation patterns, types and quantities in local industrial sector. Further discuss the application potential of Industrial Symbiosis of Sri Lankan industrial-sector to identify secondary usage of waste, avoiding direct discharge in to the environment. Data were collected using different appropriate methods. Results showed that textile and apparel, food, ceramic and rubber industries are the major effluent treatment sludge producers, totalling to 50,000 Mt per annum amounting to 80% of the ETP (Effluent Treatment Process)-sludge generated. Textile sector generate around 40,000 Mt of fabric off-cuts including cotton, polyester, nylon and mixed material. In addition, rubber sector disposes around 37,000 Mt of waste per annum during different manufacturing stages. The results from the analysis indicate some support to the theories that industrial symbiosis can have benefits both from an economical and an environmental point of view. The overall conclusion is that most of the industries in the country generate waste which can be used for an alternative usage and much could be done by the private sector to increase the use of this waste, if government policy were to support the effort.Keywords: Industrial symbiosis, Industrial ecology, Eco industrial park, Ecosyste

Process industry accidents in Sri Lanka: Analysis and basic lessons learnt

Accidents in the process industry could be prevented or reduced by having good safety management measures. Such preventive measures could be further improved through the experiences and lessons learnt from past accidents. Therefore, analysis results of past accidents are valuable sources of information for determining root causes and as case material to prevent and reduce the adverse consequences of accidents in the process industry. This paper looks at accidents in the process industry that have occurred in the past 10 years from 1997 to 2006 in Sri Lanka to gain an understanding of the nature and consequences of accidents. Lessons and main areas of concern to improve safety in the Sri Lanka process industry are discussed. The analysis is done for different event types based on specific operating process stage during which the accident occurred such as processing, loading and unloading, repair and maintenance and storage, the immediate effect types such as fire, explosion, chemical releases and emissions and the consequences of each accident. Fire incidents were observed in 38 accidents analyzed. The results show that the highest number of accidents has occurred during processing operations followed by accidents during maintenance and repair work. The cause analysis shows that many accidents have occurred due to technical and human failures. The accidents are then classified according to the severity of the consequences in order to compare the nature of accidents experienced in Sri Lanka with respect to accidents in other countries in the world

Techno-economic Assessment of Plastic Waste Management in Developing Countries: A Case Study for Sri Lanka

Worldwide, the plastic demand is increasing annually by 4%. Technologies can help save or reduce the material and energy consumption of the plastic material supply chain by applying proper waste management methods. However, comparative assessment is required to identify optimum material and energy recovery scenarios. Sri Lanka currently imports virgin plastic raw materials for different applications, which amounts to 300,000 tons per annum. Municipal solid waste generation of all solid waste is around 10,768 tons per day and collected by local authorities only 3,458 tons per day, in which over 50% of uncollected waste material, containing valuable plastics, goes to open dumps and the surrounding environment. At the end of life, plastic waste should not merely manage as energy recovery (such as waste to energy) however suitable technologies need to be applied to recycle the carbon for use as material feed stocks. Thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies offer the option to utilize organic waste as chemical feedstock and subsequent polymers. The solution towards deriving synthetic materials allows a more closed cycle of materials and can help to reduce dependence on either fossil or bio-based raw materials. This study summarizes plastic waste management routes available and investigates how in the long-term they could be applied to enhance waste management in developing and emerging environments. Thus, the study aims to assess the technologies of plastic waste management in a Techno-economic framework in a typical developing country. Keywords: Plastic waste management, Material and energy recovery, Circular econom

Techno-economical optimization of a solid waste management system using evolutionary algorithms

Renewable energy technologies are becomming popular due to higher depletion rate of fossil fuel resources. In such circumstances conversion of municipal solid waste into energy is helpful in many ways. However, it is difficult to come up with an optimum conversion technique which depends on number of techno-economical factors. There are number of difficulties in using classical optimization to optimize solid waste management systems. This research paper introduces a novel optimization algorithm based on evolutionary algorithms to conduct the optimization. The novel optimization algorithm is having the capability to conduct Pareto multi objective optimization considering constraints in both objective and decision spaces. Life cycle cost, net energy produced and landfilling capacity were taken as objective functions in the multi objective optimization. Finally, a brief discussion is presented based on the results obtained