MWRP Sri Lanka: A Sustainable, Community-Based Solid Waste Management System

Municipalities in Sri Lanka are tasked with managing solid waste via collection and haulage to landfills. For towns that fall outside the jurisdiction of a municipality, however, solid waste is not collected; instead, households burn their waste or dispose of it in nearby waterways.

Leveraging the involvement of community-based organizations across 22 towns (total population over 100,000) along the Gin Ganga River outside of Galle City, the project Participatory Approach to Solid Waste Management at Community Level is shifting current household waste management practices toward self-sustaining solid waste systems in which garbage is collected and hauled to landfills by 14 entrepreneurs who earn their income from selling recyclables (including plastics, metals, cardboard, compost, and other waste products). The Department of Local Government (Southern Province) in Galle assists with haulage.