Spatial variation of plastic waste generation in present Sri Lanka

An understanding of the spatial variations of solid waste generation helps in many ways to design waste management policies particularly at micro-regional levels. Many of the studies have focused different factors behind the post-consumer plastic waste generation as the determinants, but few of them focused on the spatial variation in finding durable solutions. In this study, quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to identify the spatial variation of plastic waste generation in Sri Lanka. Research results reveals that the per capita generation of plastic waste has a significant variation among provinces, districts and LGAs. The per capita plastic waste at national level is 0.11 kg per week and 5.72 kg per year. This finding coincides approximately with the Sri Lanka custom data of annual plastic import for consumption (5kg per head in 2014). The most prominently used plastic items are lunch sheets, polythene bags, shopping bags and wrappers of food items. It is revealed that the spatial variation of plastic waste generation is very dynamic among the districts and LGAs. Despite the western province, the second highest generation of plastic waste is recorded in the Eastern province. The study concludes that those significant findings could provide quick, useful and low-cost decision support to find durable solutions for emerging issues of post consumer plastic waste generation.