Located on abandoned limestone quarries of the cement company Holcim and in the buffer zone of Sri Lanka’s Wilpattu National Park, the landfill is expected to receive 1,200 tons of waste per day over the following ten years - a period that could be extended. According to the initial plans, the Meethotamulla dump should become converted into a waste collection center from which waste from the metropolitan area would be transported to Aruwakkalu via railway. The project with a cost of $US 107 million was first proposed in 2014 and originally agreed to be funded by the World Bank, but without getting off the ground. After the dump collapse in 2017, the government intensified its efforts to start the project and the company China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) – blacklisted by the World Bank between 2009 and 2011 and by the Bangladeshi government in 2018 for supposed bribery [1] - controversially won the bidding process and became contracted; a large part of the financing was eventually provided by a loan of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank [2]. Constructions started in 2018 and were expected to be finalized by March 2020, but waste already started to be transferred by trucks in March 2019 as Colombo’s interim dump in Kerawalapitiya was badly overflowing and garbage started to pile up in the streets of several neighborhoods. [1][3][4][5][6]

Locals and environmentalists have been objecting to the landfill project since the very first announcements in 2014 [1]. They pointed to its threats to the groundwater, the ecosystem, fisheries and wildlife, and the rural communities of Serakkuliya, Karathivu, Gangewadiya, and Eluwankulama. The site coincides with areas frequented by elephants and other wild animals and borders with a pristine mangrove patch. Environmental scientists stated that the area is unsuitable for dumping, that especially the waste processing center is situated in a critical area, that dynamiting at the nearby cement factory could cause cracks in landfill effluents, that leachate could contaminate the mangroves, the habitats, and the lagoon, and that heavy rain will lead to overflowing of the landfill and spread of wastewater. The landfill risks the livelihoods of about 16,000 families who depend on the lagoon and its ecosystem. They moreover criticized that conditions laid down in the environmental impact assessment were now completely violated and that the community – despite protests – was not consulted and ignored by the impact assessment. The area where the cement company excavates also coincides with a unique Miocene fossil site, from which only a small part called ‘Wedi Pitiya’ is still preserved but now overlaps with the landfill site. Another point of criticism is that the costs of garbage transportation - eventually taking place from a transfer station in Kelaniya – are enormous, amounting to about Rs. 4 million per day ($US 52,000). [3][4][5][6]

In an attempt to stop the project, the campaign “Clean Puttalam” was started, uniting a broad civil society movement consisting of residents, NGOs, youth groups, women’s associations, religious leaders, and political groups. Since 2016, the movement, which received support from across the country, has launched regular demonstration marches, strikes, petitions, awareness programs, and public debates to discuss the impacts of the landfill project. It also participated it dialogues with politicians and reported about a lack of answers and long-term planning by those advocating the project. [1][7][8] Also environmentalists such as Hemantha Withanage of the Centre for Environmental Justice called the project a crime and not worth the cost, and instead suggested zero-waste and recycling policies to tackle the root causes. Waste management expert Sumith Pilapitiya confirmed that the chosen location was the worst possible, but noted that from a technical point of view, the landfill concept would be good – if managed properly. As advice to minimize the damages in Aruwakkalu, several experts suggested to dump waste in another abandoned limestone quarry further south, but Holcim was not in favor of this and said it was not responsible for the project. [3] Already before the landfill project, the company’s cement production, as well as a nearby coal power plant, had caused substantial ecological impacts on the local ecosystem and nearby villagers, who among others suffered from mercury contamination [7][8]. Local activist and sociologist Ansah Nazeeha pointed out: “We are already burdened with enough problems. We can’t tolerate more injustices” [8] and “If the Puttalam lagoon is polluted the livelihood of the people who rely on fish and prawn farming, salt-making and tourism will be badly affected” [8].

In July 2018, the landfill and the constructions were blocked for four days; in September mass demonstrations took place against the landfill, and in October a women’s march; in November railways were blocked. Some activists were later produced in court. At the end of 2018, a 100-day resistance was announced by Clean Puttalam, while the Inter-Religious Committee (DIRC) of Puttalam declared “Black Days” and invoked the population to wear black armbands, headbands, and flags and to protest quietly against the opening of the landfill. [1][8] Protests continued at the beginning of 2019 before waste started to arrive. On one day of mass mobilization, workplaces and shops closed and students stayed away from school. Demonstrations in Puttalam became violently dissolved by the police; further protests took place in Colombo. [8][9][10][11][12] The president of DIRC stated: “We have scientific evidence to show that this landfill can cause severe harm to the environment and people, also pollute the lagoon. This landfill is not suitable for Puttalam” [8]. According to media reports, garbage was dumped without any treatment, and also an explosion in a drainage tank in the landfill area was reported. Throughout 2019, demonstrations in Puttalam continued and blocked arriving trucks and main roads. Authorities blamed protesters for vandalism and obstruction and announced legal consequences for four protest organizers; a court then prohibited demonstrations, while garbage trucks – which were used because the railway facilities were still not finalized – received police protection. [4][5][6][13][14] At the end of 2019, residents of the nearby towns of Serakkuliya and Karathivu again staged protests. They reported that fish have started to die as the lagoon was affected by leachate and complained about air contamination and uncontrolled dumping in areas outside the landfill. [6] In December 2019, a local politician even announced a hunger strike onto death [14].