Assessment of municipal solid waste management systems of Sri Lanka and Japan in terms of knowledge sharing: a comparative study

As the first empirical study to compare the impact of related policy and administrative frameworks in Sri Lanka and Japan, this study examined current municipal solid waste management issues, difficulties, and root causes in Sri Lanka, using comparative case study method. Misato and Gampaha cities were used as comparison subjects. Gampaha City has only 50% of waste collection coverage, and the remaining 50% is mismanaged. The established comparative analytical criteria encompass (1) legislation, (2) administrative framework, (3) stakeholder collaboration, and (4) institutional in-house capacity. Data were gathered and tabulated from 304 respondents at a 95% significance level and a secondary survey and follow-up interviews were conducted. The points (indication rate) that were pointed out as the root causes are as follows; (1) a poor administrative framework (79%), (2) deficient community participation (66%), (3) poor stakeholder engagement (65%), (4) weak legislation (71%), (5) a lack of in-house capacity (56%), and (6) low political commitment (50%). These results show that the identified problems might be resolved by a city-specific policy and administrative framework with institutional coherence, and that the policymakers should consider both "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches to bind all the stakeholders into the system.