BIONEWS - Updates and News from the EU-­‐funded SWITCH-­‐Asia initiative – January 2016

Outcome of the annual planning meeting

The project team gathered for two days in Kurunegala to develop the activity plan on the biogas project for 2016. The main focus of the plan was on how to integrate biogas promotion activities in to the provincial plans in which the project operates. Three of the provinces (North Western, Southern and Eastern) have already prepared biogas promotion action plans for 2016. The project intends to work with central and western provinces to develop plans as well. As per the plan Sri Lanka will have a significant increase of biogas units developed during this year.

Produce and then Promote

Milroy Lanza is a reputed house constructor in the Chilaw locality. A member of the North Western Province Constructors Association, Lanza was one of the participants at the biogas awareness creation workshop for constructors conducted through the EU--‐funded SWITCH Asia initiative. Having vested an interested following the workshop, Lanza decided that he should first build a biogas unit at his household, use it to test its feasibility and success and then promote it as an upselling tool to his future clients. Lanza himself constructed the 8m3 Chinese type biogas unit in his household. The constructor believes that there is tremendous potential biogas to develop in the country, especially in hotels where wastewater treatment is popular cause of concern. He is determined to try out and test the biogas unit installed in his household for a few months and once he is convinced by the technology is keen on promoting it to his new clients as well.

Managing Waste and Saving the Environment

JHM Atapattu is the General Manager at Blue Sky hotel in Kurunegala. The hotel is located at the entrance to the capital of the North Western Province making it an easy bed and breakfast option for frequent travellers. Constantly backed by a perspective of wanting to do more for the environment and to live a healthier and greener lifestyle, a biogas unit has always been on the minds of the hotel but there was neither enough knowledge on the technology nor on where to access such information. It was then that the hotel was approached by NERD or National Engineering Research and Development Centre and connected them with Isuru Constructors to build a biogas unit in the hotel’s backyard. The Chinese type biogas unit took a month for construction and another two--‐three months for the gas to become accessible to the kitchen. Blue Sky hotel constructed the biogas unit keeping three intentions in mind: to manage waste, become more energy efficient and contribute towards a greener and healthier environment. On an average the hotel disposes around 01--‐02 buckets of food waste and if in the event of a wedding, 05 buckets. The hotel has 17 rooms and three banquet halls and is very impressed with the technology and its many benefits that it has begun to convince other neighbouring hotels on the many benefits of biogas as well.

Name: Blue Sky Hotel

Location: Kurunegala, North Western Province

Occupancy: 17 rooms

Waste: 01--‐02 buckets on average

Constructors: Isuru Bio Engineering

European Union

The European Union is a unique economic and political partnership between 27 European countries. In 1957, the signature of the Treaties of Rome marked the will of the six founding countries to create a common economic space. Since then, first the Community and then the European Union has continued to enlarge and welcome new countries as members. The Union has developed into a huge single market with the euro as its common currency. What began as a purely economic union has evolved into an organisation spanning all areas, from development aid to environmental policy. Thanks to the abolition of border controls between EU countries, it is now possible for people to travel freely within most of the EU. It has also become much easier to live and work in another EU country.

SWITCH--‐Asia

The European Union (EU) has made the issue of “sustainable consumption and production” (SCP) a priority in its latest regional cooperation strategy (2007--‐2013) and in 2008 the European Commission launched the SWITCH--‐Asia programme to help interested consumers, businesses and supporting associations switch to a more sustainable paradigm.

People in Need

People in Need is a non--‐governmental, non--‐profit organisation based on the ideas of humanism, freedom, equality and solidarity. The organisation considers human dignity and freedom to be the basic values and believes that people anywhere in the world should have a right to make decisions about their lives and to share the rights expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Janathakshan

Janathakshan (GTE) Limited is a not for profit company established in 2011 to promote sustainable and green solutions in development to Sri Lanka and beyond. Janathakshan; meaning “people’s technology” or “technology for people” roots itself in the work of Practical Action, a technology based INGO operated in Sri Lanka for over two decades and envisages the same vision and values of Practical Action founder E. F. Schumacher’s philosophy. The existence of Janathakshan (GTE) Limited ensures the sustainability of knowledge based networks and expert knowledge to serve future practitioners, development agencies, researchers students, academics and decisions makers.