| dc.description.abstract | Improper urban solid waste management is one of the most urgent problems currently faced by humanity. Exposure to solid waste causes a variety of health issues for inhabitants of cities and beyond. The topic has gained a lot of international attention over the past few years. Recently, 171 countries signed the Paris Agreement (2016), which identifies the concept of ‘Zero Waste’ as a top priority. One of these countries is Sri Lanka, a country which historically had a decentralized and privatized waste governance system. This system was achieving limited and unsustainable results in terms of waste management. These limited results, combined with the act of Sri Lanka signing the Paris Agreement, have led to a shifting waste governance arrangement directed towards centralization.
To analyse solid waste challenges in Sri Lanka, the concept of multilevel governance is discussed. In order to understand the effects of power within governance, the concept of governmentality is introduced. With the help of these concepts, and the practice theory, the practice of solid waste segregation is placed at the centre of analysis. The data collected for this thesis is based on three months of empirical research in two case study sites in Sri Lanka. Household surveys, which included (n=) 140 respondents, have been held. These surveys revealed baseline household data, household awareness levels, their segregation practices, and their overall mentality towards waste segregation. In addition to the quantitative data collection, other methods have been used. In-depth interviews, informal conversations and conversations with households, key-informants, researchers and experts, as well as observations, lie at the basis of the qualitative data collection.
Results show that due to the large differences in local governance within the municipal councils, and the large differences between collection services, the household practices in both case studies are quite different. Results also show that the local governance is very important and greatly impacts the practices of the waste chain actors and the households. Local governmentalities are an important factor in deciding policy, but centralized policy by the national government has little influence on either local governmentalities or practices. A more hybrid governance structure is suggested to improve the solid waste situation. | |
