Electricity generation through municipal solid waste in Sri Lanka: Drivers and barriers

Abstract

The rapid increase in population and urbanisation has led to an increase in per capita consumption and the generation of waste. Thus, the need of having improved management strategies for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has aroused. Waste to Energy (WtE) was a concept that came up as a solution for waste management and as an ideal solution for energy crises as well. WtE is a process of generating energy mainly in terms of electricity and heat by giving MSW as the input where it will become the fuel for this process. Most countries like Denmark, England, Australia, etc. use this as a successful Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) strategy and as a sustainable energy producing mechanism too. But, in Sri Lankan WtE has become unsuccessful in many instances due to the influence of barriers to implementing WtE mega-scale projects. Thus, this study aims to explore existing barriers in light of expanding WtE projects in Sri Lanka. In addition, it proposes strategies to mitigate those barriers. Data was collected through expert interviews and manual content analysis was used for data analysis. Some identified key barriers and strategies in the frame of political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental are lack of having government infrastructure, high initial investments, social burdens, lack of technical knowledge on WtE, disposal of bottom and fly ash as barriers and providing infrastructure by the government, introducing debt financing, social awareness, getting foreign technical experts, using bottom ash and fly ash to produce some necessary bi-products as strategies.