Post-Disaster C&D Waste Management: The Case of COWAM Project in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Waste management is considered to be the weakest phase in responding to a disaster. This became apparent when Sri Lanka suffered enormously from the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. The City of Galle located on the south coast was severely affected by this event, causing some 4000 deaths and destroying over 15000 houses. The Construction Waste Management (COWAM) project funded by the European Union from 2005-2009 looked at the most sustainable ways of dealing with Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste after a disaster and devised a pilot C&D recycling plant (COWAM Centre) in Galle. This paper reflects on the C&D waste management practices followed by the city authorities during the recovery and reconstruction phase right up to the operation of the COWAM Centre with the intention of seeking best practices for the future. As part of the COWAM case study, semistructured interviews were conducted with municipal authorities and voluntary organizations to identify the C&D waste management process followed during recovery and reconstruction. Empirical data was collected from actual demolition sites located in Galle to establish the quantity of C&D waste, composition, hazardous substances found, and collection efficiency. Findings revealed that waste was disposed initially into temporary dumping sites and later re-cycled through the COWAM Centre. However, this study found many issues that could have been avoided if Galle Municipal Council had planned and implemented a quick C&D waste management strategy. Key issues which arose were lack of heavy vehicles, lack of manpower, inability to forecast the amount and composition of waste, and inability to identify suitable temporary dumping sites. The characteristics of C&D waste gave a baseline for the design of COWAM Centre. The paper presents a viable approach to overcome issues pertaining to C&D waste management during the aftermath of a disaster through the lessons learned from the COWAM project.

Managing Earthquake Debris: Environmental Issues, Health Impacts, and Risk Reduction Measures

“…A very important measure to address the risk from hazardous materials and substances at the sites of removal and disposal of debris is the systematic instrumental monitoring of environmental parameters within the sites and in the surrounding areas [8,14]. In the case of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, monitoring included visual inspection for contamination control and soil analyses, according to the results of which countermeasures against soil contamination were taken as needed [8].…”

“…The percentage of concrete in the debris resulting from the 17 August 1999, Mw = 7.6 Izmit earthquake in Turkey and the 12 May 2008, Mw = 7.9 Sichuan earthquake in China was greater than 50%, while it was around 23% in the debris resulting from the 26 December 2004, Mw = 9.2 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Sri Lanka [6]. Furthermore, masonry constituted about 25%, 40%, and 59% of the disaster waste in Turkey, China, and Sri Lanka, respectively [2,7,8].…”

Disaster waste management after the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake: A mini-review of earthquake waste management and the Kumamoto experience

“…The proportions of concrete in the disaster waste from the Marmara Earthquake in Turkey in 1999 and Sichuan Earthquake in China in 2008 were greater than 50%, whereas the proportion was around 23% in the disaster waste caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004. Unlike in Japan, the waste composition included large amounts of masonry (bricks, stones, and 'cabok' (lightweight red laterite) in Sri Lanka), which constituted about 25%, 40%, and 59% of the disaster waste in Turkey, China, and Sri Lanka, respectively (Baycan, 2004;Karunasena et al, 2012;Xiao et al, 2012).…”

Capacity Gaps in Post Disaster Waste Management: Case Study in Sri Lanka

“…Disaster waste generated after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 at Telwatte (Hikkaduwa) was used to fill coral mined pits and lands with Central Enviornment Authority's(CEA) permission (Basnayake et al, 2005). The only recycling plant for construction waste established in Galle for processing post tsunami construction waste was subjected to operational delays and transportation costs of waste for recycling was costly, significantly reducing benefits of recycling (Raufdeen, 2009;Karunasena et al, 2012b).…”