Putting waste to good use: govt to reuse discarded railway sleepers, empty shell cases, and other material

The Cabinet of Ministers has granted permission to re-use discarded materials from several state institutions as resources for other industries or departments.

Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved the obtaining of railway sleepers removed from the railways of Sri Lanka Railway Department for affixing the electric fence and secure fence to minimize the elephant-human clash.

The elephant-human clash is reported in 133 divisional secretariat divisions in 19 districts in Sri Lanka. Among the precautions taken by the Department of Wild Life Conservation to minimize this clash, pioneers the setup of secure fences and electric fences.

Approximately 4,500 kilometers of electric fencing has already been put up by now in the aforementioned 133 Divisional Secretariat divisions while approximately 1,500 kilometers of electric fence and secure fences along with elephant retention centers have planned to be constructed.

The timber posts, which are being used to affix these fences at present, are constantly knocked down by the elephants. It has been pointed out that the use of concrete posts is a beyond practical approach due to difficulties in renovating them.

Therefore, it has been proposed to utilize removed railway sleepers for this purpose.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has given their consent for obtaining the used and removed sleepers of the Department of Railways to the Department of Wild Life Conservation free of charge.

This was a combined proposal furnished by the Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation and the Minister of Transport.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved a proposal for obtaining empty bullet, shell cases, and disposed armor plates as raw materials required for traditional industries.

At the Cabinet meeting, attention had been drawn to solve the issues confronted by the traditional craftsmanship industries and rural industries sector to empower those involved in those industries since they have been revealed to be one of the sectors that can considerably influence the Sri Lankan economy.

Accordingly, it has been planned to supply the raw materials for these industries on a concessionary basis in order to provide these manufacturers the opportunity to enable price their products to compete with the imported goods when marketing in the production market.

With a view to realizing this objective, the Cabinet of Ministers has rendered their approval to the proposal furnished by the Minister of Industries for obtaining empty bullet or shell cases and disposed of armor plates from Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Air Force, and Sri Lanka Navy to the National Crafts Council.

This process will be carried out outside the formal procurement procedure but subject to the price matrix approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in the year 2017.

The cabinet has also granted permission for the National Crafts Council to obtain the discarded copper, bronze, aluminum, and other material from Sri Lanka Telecom Company, Sri Lanka Railways Department, Sri Lanka Electricity Board, and National Water Supply and Drainage Board under concessionary prices.