On 22 April 2021, contributing to the Earth Day 2021, IGES will present a webinar dedicated to assisting policymakers and practitioners in developing countries with safe closure and rehabilitation of municipal solid waste dumpsites. This is based on guidelines developed by the Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka with support from the IGES Centre Collaborating with UNEP on Environmental Technologies (CCET). 

The lack of proper final disposal techniques has been a major problem faced by most local governments. Using open dumps for the final disposal of waste is a common practice in most developing counties. Worldwide, open-dumps are the third largest anthropogenic source of methane, accounting for 11 percent of estimated global methane emissions or 81 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The 50 largest dumpsites affect the daily lives of 64 million people, 17 million of whom live in Asia. Similarly, these dumpsites also impact all 17 SDGs, directly or indirectly. Hence, dumpsite closure and rehabilitation can help local authorities reduce pollution risks to the environment and public health at the local level, and climate and SDG achievements at the global level. 

According to many local authorities, insufficient land resources, technical support and finances hinder the transition from open disposal to sanitary landfilling. However, it is well known that open dumping practices can no longer be allowed to continue and appropriate waste resources recovery and disposal strategies should be established. Therefore, to address this problem, the Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka, in collaboration with CCET, developed the guidelines for local authorities about dumpsite closure and rehabilitation. 

In this webinar, the presentation and discussion will focus on 1) the importance and necessity of safe closure and rehabilitation of landfill sites, especially in developing countries and 2) how safe closure and rehabilitation should be implemented from a governmental perspective. 

More details are available at Earth Day 2021 - Webinar on Safe Closure and Rehabilitation of Municipal Solid Waste Dumpsites | IGES

The recording of the event: https://youtu.be/rqVJaw6-WYI