Letters during COVID-19: Status update from Colombo, Sri Lanka (Part 2)

Our series ‘Letters during COVID-19 is an exchange of thoughts, a collection of digital letters exchanged among colleagues in lockdown and their thoughts about research and field work – from afar and within’. 

Colombo 22nd April 2020

Dear Pia,

I am glad to hear that you and your family are well and safe. The media in Sri Lanka paints a very grim picture of the SARS-CoV2 situation in Europe; especially the situation in Italy. Most of the airtime of local TV channels is allocated to discuss the spread of SARS-CoV2 in the developed world and how each health care system is struggling to treat patients. This is part of the efforts of local media to assure the public that the government is doing all it can to treat the patients and stop the spread of SARS-CoV2 in Sri Lanka. As you have said, we are in an island-wide lockdown and the lockdown has been effective for the past thirty-two days. The government had initially planned to relax the islandwide police curfew this week, but with the sudden increase in the numbers of SARS-CoV2 patients, the curfew has been extended till the 27th of April.

Similar to Austria, the government of Sri Lanka has declared municipal solid waste management as an essential service. Once declared as an essential service, all employees have to report to work and all leave is cancelled until further notice. Hence, municipal solid waste management activities carried out by local governments have continued as usual.

In Pannipitiya where I live, the Kesbawa Municipal Council has continued the usual door to door waste collection timetable and they collect bio-degradable waste on Tuesday and Thursdays while non-biodegradable waste is collected on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I have noticed that the number of waste workers in tractors have reduced from four to one. I have no means of getting to know whether this is a measure to safeguard waste workers from the virus or if there is any other reason. Despite the spread of the SARS-CoV2, none of the waste workers or drivers of the Kesbawa Municipal Council wears protective gear such as bodysuits or masks. This is a very serious concern as waste workers face a high probability of being exposed to the virus as they travel from one house to another. I informed the Director-General of the Western Province Solid Waste Management Authority about this concern and he said that municipalities have been instructed to provide face masks and sanitary gloves to waste collectors. Hopefully, municipalities will take steps to do the same.

Waste collector outside my house without protective gear
Waste collector outside my house without protective gear

Usually, when biodegradable waste is collected on Tuesdays and Thursdays, waste collection trucks and tractors are full to the brim. But during the lockdown, I have noticed a reduction in the amount of biodegradable waste which is collected. I took a picture of the tractor that came last Tuesday and this is how it looked.

The half empty waste collection tractor
The half-empty waste collection tractor

Even though it is difficult to determine the exact reason for the reduction of biodegradable waste, it could be a result of a change in consumption patterns. In my home for an instance, the production of kitchen waste has reduced significantly as we have started to cook two meals per day; one meal is prepared in the morning for breakfast and lunch while the second meal is prepared for dinner.

We also prepare only two curries for each meal to save vegetables and spices. My mother makes rice crispies with the leftover rice to have as snacks. Most of the middle-class families I have been in contact with have also changed their consumption patterns. This could be the reason for waste collection tractors being half empty.

However, the amount of non-biodegradable waste generated in my house has increased. Similar to our house, most neighbours mentioned that the amount of non-biodegradable waste has increased in their houses too. I wonder how the Kesbawa Municipal Council is going to manage the amount of non-biodegradable waste as most of the non-biodegradable waste was managed by informal waste workers before the spread of SARS-CoV2. Due to the Police curfew, informal waste workers are not allowed to collect recyclable waste from households anymore. Since the only option is to dump all the waste to Site B of the Karadiyana Waste Management Centre where the non-recyclable waste is dumped. This would further increase environmental pollution at the Karadiyana Waste Centre and especially the pollution of the Weras Ganga (a small river flowing by the waste mountains). I am trying to contact a few informal waste workers and municipal waste collectors to get know about the difficulties that they experience during the curfew.

However, the SARS-CoV2 has had a positive impact on municipal solid waste management activities in Sri Lanka. Firstly, the government of Sri Lanka has identified the importance of municipal solid waste management by declaring it as an essential service. The recent discourse analysis we conducted under our project identified the central government as the key actor in the municipal waste management discourse. Since the government formally identified municipal solid waste management as an essential service, it is a significant juncture in waste management of Sri Lanka. The effects of this formal recognition are already evident in some of the advertisements telecasted on local television channels.

I saw reports that the SARS-CoV2 has spread in India and Nepal and I wonder how it has impacted waste management activities there. I hope our colleagues are well and safe and maybe they can enlighten us on the situation in their respective countries too.  On a final note, I hope that the pandemic will end soon for the safety of our colleagues and all waste workers.

With Love,

Malith

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Pictures and story by: Malith Silva

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