Nice Video, Its all about attitudes and personal ethics. I think we have missed or forgot our qualities and values due to negative impacts of wrong political and socio economic directorship during past decades. All are responsible for this problem and It is important to educate the society, continuously and effectively rather than waiting for politicians. So that there will be a country for future generations.

Yes, there is a lot that we citizens can to manage our waste, and this is one of the main areas that we have control over than any other issue we are facing today, if try to put the blame on the administration that means we are no different from the politicians. lets take a small example if we take enough effort to separate waste at home, even though there is no practice to collect them separately the collectors will utilise these separated waste. and we should not through waste bags at every corner of the street and put our garbage in some one else's land and give the excuse that the council is not collecting waste on time. we should find simple ways if managing it around our household and then collectively persuade administration and politicians to find solutions to common waste management issues.

“How can SWM be improved in Sri Lanka?” Theoretically this can be done though the 3R concept which is known as waste hierarchy. This basically includes reduce, reuse and recycle. “Reduce” means to reduce consumption and the amount of waste generated. This includes buying and consuming less, as such also throwing away less. “Reuse” is simply the act of using an item again and again in its original form. Reusing items eliminates the need to reprocess materials. “Recycle” means to give old or used things a new lease of life, by making new things out of the old materials. But in reality reducing should be the most preferential option and reusing should come next. Moreover, recycling old items into material for new products depends largely on the market for these eco-friendly products and it should be the least preferential option.

The use of shopping/tissue bags is very high in supermarkets and one way of reducing the generation of these items could be to create awareness among relevant authorities, so that the usage is made minimum. Shopping bags are not biodegradable and difficult to recycle. Since most communities do not practice and also do not have proper waste disposal systems, the best option is to reduce the generation to avoid any damage to the environment. Waste separation can be best practised given the space in one's living environment, but this is not possible to those who live in apartments due to space limitations. How can this be addressed?

I like Amila's comment. But 'reducing' is contrary to all the messages we receive - which is urging us to buy more, consume more, since it's our increasing consumption that allows our economies to grow. So even the idea of managing waste points to the need for a different paradigm. Think the video also illustrates a complete lack of caring for who or what is around us - shown most graphically by the school girl who gets betel juice on her smart white uniform. Might help to ponder what is driving us in this direction.

Solid waste is fast becoming one of Sri Lanka's main environmental problems - it used to be considered an urban phenomenon but with the increasing amounts of non-degradable products we use on a daily basis it is fast spreading around the country. SWM is an expensive business and a few functional elements that are essential for managing it are land, technology and manpower. One of the biggest barrier as I see it is land, and land that is NOT someone else back yard. Here is where we all come in. We have a role to play in reducing the amount waste we generate and help the management of it - by separating, composting, reusing, using less, being more aware of what we buy, by influencing our friends and family to also act responsibly, it is less convenient of course but it is worth it and it will make you feel better about doing it. Organic waste (mainly food stuff and garden waste) is compost, it is fertiliser, it can be returned to the soil and be used again, non-degradables (like plastics, glass) can be reused in that same form or turned into something else, BUT this process is much more inefficient IF we dont separate our waste. Watching the video really makes me hope that others who see it will think twice about littering as well as about becoming better managers of what we consume cause at the end of the day the cycle comes full circle back to you! We ALL generate waste, therefore we should all contribute to manage it.

The term ‘waste’ has a different meaning for different people. In general one can say that waste is ‘unwanted’ for the person who discards it; a product or material that does not have a value anymore for the first user and is therefore thrown away. But “unwanted” is subjective and the waste could have value for another person in a different circumstance, or even in a different culture. There are many large industries that operate primarily or exclusively using waste materials – paper and metals are the commonest – as their industrial feed stocks. Waste is regarded both as a negative and as a useful material providing a potential source of income. It can in fact be the only free resource available to poor people, or urban dwellers, who cannot cut wood or use other common property resources available in the country. This real value of waste in many developing countries is confirmed by the huge informal sector that lives from waste collection and recovery. There are also formal sector examples, such as sugar cane factories that sell their fibers and cane waste to paper factories that produce paper out of it. Unfortunately not all wastes can be regarded as resource. Many hazardous and toxic materials cannot be safely recycled or reused. Likewise, we should have different view point of the matter and develop suitable policies and practices to solve it..

This video is focusing on a particular type of waste which is travelers waste. When traveling most of us tend to enjoy our “drive” and consume…but many are reluctant to travel with waste. As a result waste is thrown every where. The simplest message would be to dispose where it should be disposed, look for waste bins, carry a waste bag in your vehicle…if there is no other place, take it home and dispose in your home waste bin. If we cannot minimize the waste, lets at lease manage them in a way that causes less damage to the environment and to us!

Taking the conversations by Amila on "Reducing and Reusing" and by Chaturanga on "shopping bags" forward, I would like to add my thoughts here. I think charging money for "shopping bags" at super markets will reduce the high consumption of polythene. In order to work out the reduction of usage, these bags should be reusable. This is practiced by most of the supermarkets in the UK, and I have seen many people taking their own bags when they go to the market. If I can remember correctly, similar kind of attempt was in place sometime ago in Sri Lanka, but unfortunately for some reason it was vanished.

Let me share some of my ideas with you stating some of the lines of a song that I like very much …… “ Bana kiyana ratak bana ahana ratak ….yuda bimak une kelesaaa”…… I hope you all have heard about this song sung by a very popular Sri Lankan artist Mr. Edward Jayakody… forgive me I can not remember who wrote these beautiful lines……..just forget the last few lines and think of the other beautiful lines for a moment….. “Solid Waste management” these lines have been using by many people around the globe including …the politicians, the writers, the researchers ,and some artists make documentaries, teachers educate their students on this topic… some tv channels also have created some documentaries to educate their viewers on this particular issue… you see and hear people are discussing about this issue…… I m not going to discuss here anything on who writes or who does what Some time ago some politicians took the initiative to set up solid waste management centers to minimize the problem…I think The Kaduwela Pradeshiya Sabha is one of the places. But I do not have a clue on how these places function. I also have seen some centers that were started to collect solid waste from the public. Also I can say that I have not seen those centers are open on any particular day. May be I m wrong, may be I have seen these centers closed on public holidays. Let’s not put the blame on anyone. I am also one of the people who are responsible for some of the environmental issues that we are facing right now. i m doing it intentionally or unintentionally… let me honestly tell you one thing that always forget . I sometimes bring consumer products using those sili sili bags. But fortunately I do not have a habit of dumping them all over my garden or else I do not dump them on some other person’s land. I can wait till the kunu lorry comes to my place. It is not easy sometimes for us to change our usual habits that we are used to since our child hood. Don’t you agree with me? I like to ask you to just close your eyes for a moment and think how you have contributed to worsen the problem. I guess there is a very popular saying …charity begins at home…. Let us start this at home. Let us educate our own kids, let us start this at our own house like offices. Let us learn how to manage our own wastes accurately at home. At least we can collect those wastes separately and dump them on proper places. Now what do you think about the lines that I mentioned beginning of this writing… am I doing the same thing? I am not an expert or a specialist. Let us have an accurate plan with the help of the experts and face the problem. 

The attractive as well as a nice video clip is taken by the author, which is most suitable for Sri Lankan situation. At the end of the article he/she asked from the reader where it is mostly a problem? Who should be responsible for SWM? Simply an interest answers automatically come to my mind. The answer for first one is widespread and the second one is nobody else. There is no need to get further actions that are dumping garbage. According to my view each and every person mind should be clean first then surrounding environment also immediately fresh this is an extra point which is represent by Sandika Kaminee’s discussion. “Let us start at home”. Actually the uncontrolled scattering and dumping of garbage in everywhere spend an infrastructures and resources for waste collection. Current rate of waste collection by the local authorities in Sri Lanka is estimated to be about 25000 tones per day. Then what would be the ahead if we not get a real action by ourselves.

Why not ask the people of Jaffna how they do it? Of course they are mostly vegetarians but the point is that they have something very valuable to add to the debate and no one is asking them. we often overlook the solutions lying within us.... the other point of course is that the official approach is something like having a police officer standing at every potential dump. there is even a police environmental protection unit. I wonder how many other countries have given this task to their defence ministry!!!