Sustainability Now: The polluter pays?

We need a waste management system set up for the whole of Sri Lanka where consumers have a chance to “not-pollute” and to not pay “fines”

When it comes to environmental pollution, the “polluter pays principle” seems to make a lot of sense: those who pollute the environment shall pay a fee/fine. As this topic is currently discussed in Sri Lanka, it is worth looking at this in more detail. 

Where for some sectors this principle is easier applicable (factories, producing industries), for others it is more challenging. 

Transport

Let’s take transport. Some countries have the rule that those cars which need large amounts of fuel are heavily taxed and environmental friendly and electric cars are tax reduced. 

In addition there are laws on Co2 emissions which assure that any car in the country does not exceed the allowed levels. When it comes to electric cars there is another controversy where despite their 0-emmission – less energy usage advantage, they show a high carbon footprint during production. 

Recently a newspaper article mentioned that the most sustainable cars (looking at the total carbon footprint) are second hand cars. In Sri Lanka we also see some of these tax incentives which led to an increase in electric vehicles across the island. 

However, to make use of any of these incentives one needs the necessary budget which excludes a majority of Sri Lankans who are, if they have their own vehicle at all, still using any sort of car/tractor/van/motorbike which brings them from A to B, even if it produces black clouds behind them. 

Those who don’t have vehicles use the bus or tuktuk, which are amongst those with the highest CO2 emissions. So who is polluting and who has to pay? Someone buying a high-emission car, that seems easy. A bus company? Anyone else? Each tuktuk driver? Everybody who uses the bus or tuktuk? 

Eventually, if bus companies or tuktuks are charged, the fare prices will increase too, which makes the passenger the one paying for the pollution created. Would that be the solution? Can the passenger then really choose to life more sustainably and use different transport?

Household waste

Now let’s take another example: everyday household waste. Currently waste is segregated only in certain areas of Colombo. Where glass, cardboard, wood, plastics and other items of recyclable value are collected also by small individual recycling shops. 

Most of the waste in Sri Lanka is not segregated and periodically placed in front of the house or on top of the road to be picked up by the municipal councils, which works better in some areas, not so good in others. This fact leads to a situation where individuals started to pay waste collectors and recycling companies to come to their houses and pick up everything, can be segregated waste or not, can be send for recycling or not. 

So they have to pay because they are the polluters? How does the waste come into their houses? In Sri Lanka we are lucky to have a range of markets which offer vegetables, fruits, grains, herbs and similar without packaging, all the supermarket chains have packaged food where the vegetables and fruits and grains are packed in plastic bags for weighing purposes and lately, the organic products are wrapped in plastic from the beginning – which is irritating in general. 

When it comes to packaging, there is no real choice. Even usable cotton shopping bags only reduces the waste created marginally as the rest of the products can hardly be unpacked in the shop and taken home without packaging. At home one is left with a pretty large amount of waste. 

Now one pays for the products in the supermarket, and pays again for the packaging to be collected, without having a choice on the packaging nor on the waste management part. Who is really polluting then? Is it the consumer, or the company producing the products, or the State by not having a well-functioning waste management system in place? 

That a lot of waste material ends up on the consumer side is also the case in what we call developed countries, however there one is at least left with the good feeling that there are compulsory recycling and advanced waste management mechanisms in place – and this is the crucial point looking at the actual meaning of polluter pays principle. There has to be a choice! 

If I am driving too fast on the road and I am caught by the Police, I will have to pay a fine. However, paying for my average domestic waste to be collected from my house is like getting a fine each time I’m driving, no matter how fast. This cannot be the system we want.

Waste management system 

We need a waste management system set up for the whole of Sri Lanka where consumers have a chance to “not-pollute” and to not pay “fines”. We need awareness raising and educational activities to reduce pollution and increase the understanding on the harm of burning and burying waste as well as on effective solutions. 

At the same time, we need products which have no or at least smart packaging, a ban on single use plastic bags, a price on any plastic and paper bags in supermarkets and so on. We need a possibility to recycle or up-cycle any waste product for a maximum of resource recovery. We need a combination of laws and incentives to motivate everyone as well as fine those who choose not to comply. 

If we really want to be on top of the game, we must establish a system where the entire carbon footprint of products is considered… How did a famous person say… “I have a dream”.