Energy from Municipal Waste - Senanayake Park, Badulla Municipal Council

Figure: Biogas System connected to toilet sewerage at Senanayake Park, Badulla Municipal Council

Badulla is an ancient and a small municipality in Sri Lanka situated in the lower central hills of the
country. The scenic upcountry railway line, passing the last tunnel, ends in Badulla. The famous and
most awesome and inspirational water fall in Sri Lanka Dunhinda Water Falls of 63 meters height and
nine peaked 2,035 meter high Namunukula and 1,047 meter high Narangala Mountains are situated in
Badulla. The elevation is about 680 meters above the mean sea level while the area of the city is about
10 square kilometres. All around Badulla, which is a basin, are tea plantations, Badulla district being the
second largest producer of tea in the country. This is the home to about 50,000 citizens. In addition to
that, it being the capital of Uva Province, a large number of people flock to the city daily.

Badulla Municipal Council, established in 1963, is one of the oldest, among the first ten, municipal
councils in Sri Lanka. Municipal councils in Sri Lanka are responsible to provide comfort, convenience
and wellbeing of the people, and are engaged in sanitation, drainage, public parks, public health and
common amenities. Garbage is a daunting problem to the Badulla city. Over 30 tons of garbage is
collected per day. Earlier, all the garbage was dumped into part of the Badulla play ground. This is one of
the largest play grounds in the country, which is of an extent of about 3.5 hectares. Any overflow,
seepage or spillage runs to the nearby Badulu oya water stream, which creates the beautiful Dunhinda
Water Falls and joins the Mahaweli River, the longest river in Sri Lanka which meets the Indian Ocean
near the natural port city of Trincomalee. Nearly 25 tons of the municipal waste is processed through a
compost processing unit established recently and the rest is sent for landfills.

Under this contest, Badulla Municipality decided that it would also use the biogas technology to manage
their remaining waste. With their own finance and the financial contribution from the Ministry
responsible for Power & Energy of the Uva Provincial Council, the Municipality set up 5 biogas systems.
These were collectively designed by the Municipal Engineer Jeewan Gangananda and Mr. Ranjith
Samarakoon as per the Sri Lanka Standards SLS 1292 code of practice specification on biogas systems.
One of the interventions selected by them was a biogas systems at the public toilets situated in the
Senanayake Park right at the centre of the city.

Senanayake Park is one of the oldest public spaces in the city. There is a special area for the children and
the rest is common. This is used by thousands of people who come to key places like the Central Bus
Station, Provincial General Hospital, Provincial Council Complex, District Secretariat, Courts Complex,
Leading schools like Badulla Madya Maha Vidyalaya, Uva College, Vishaka Girls High School, Tamil Girls
High School, Dharmadutha College, Sarasvathee College, Al-Adhan College and Viharamahadevi College
which are situated in close proximity to this park while Uva Wellassa University, Badulla Esplanade,
Muthiyangana Temple which is believed to date back to 2,000 years to the reign of King
Devanampiyatissa and visited by Lord Buddha with 500 monks and Kathiresan Devala built in 18th
century are within about 2 kilometres. Occasionally, public meetings and rallies are held at this park.

One 30 cubic meter capacity biogas systems is built linking the public toilets of this park by the Badulla
Municipal council. There are separate toilets for males and females in 2 sections. This is a continuous
flow fixed dome biogas system built in the year 2013. The gas generated is carried in gas tubes to the
Municipal Council office situated about 200 meters away from the biogas systems. In front of the
Municipal Council office, the gas is used for night time illumination while during the day time, it is used
to heat water which is used for making tea and coffee for the staff twice a day in the morning and
evening.
The septic tanks that were connected to the toilets were converted to biogas digesters. The surface area
is beautified with growing flowers adding value to the beauty of the public park. The personnel who
maintain the park and toilets are given basic awareness and training on the fundamentals, operations
and maintenance of the biogas system. On the other hand, the staffs at the receiving end that use the
gas do the maintenance of the gas lines and appliances like the biogas stoves and lamps. This also has
helped the Municipal Staff not only to acknowledge the technologies converting waste into valuable
resources, but also engage in productivity improvements and waste sorting at the source itself.

Badulla Municipal Council contemplates to exploit the biogas technology to the maximum in their waste
management efforts and public amenities. The experience of them with the biogas systems they have
put up at Senanayake Park connecting the toilet waste and other biogas systems at the Municipal Yard
( 60 m3), The Simon Peiris Town Hall ( 60 m3), Municipal Abattoir( 60m3) and Weekly Fair( 60m3) would
be an example for other Municipalities and the local government authorities numbering over 300. While
these biogas systems are of small capacities and can be considered as small pilot interventions for
gaining experience and demonstration of the feasibility, the Municipality now thinks big and explores
the possibilities of integrating the whole waste management system with advanced technology, may be
with technology transfer from developed countries from Europe and further developments locally and
to set up a business model of waste to energy with possible private sector investments.