The first City Consultation was conducted in May 1999, followed by a second City Consultation on Sanitation in April 2000, when representatives from the municipalities, private sector, NGOs, CBOs and civil society groups validated the Colombo Core Area (CCA) Environmental Profile, and endorsed Solid Waste Management and Sanitation as the main issues of concern to be addressed in the three municipalities . As a result a working group on Solid Waste Management (SWM) was established in each of the three municipalities, whilst Colombo Municipal Council set up two additional working groups: one for reduction of non-revenue water consumption, and the other to develop an cross-Departmental Environmental Management Information System (EMIS)
Over time, the consultative process developed a strategy for SWM in CCA, one of the key aspects being to design and implement through community participation small scale interventions as demonstration projects.
A follow-up City Consultation was held by KMC in May 2004 to endorse the Municipality’s own Environmental Profile, which highlighted the inadequate SWM as a serious threat to life and property, and a major environmental hazard to the city. The City Consultation further strengthened the Municipal Solid Waste Management Strategy, and facilitated dissemination of the demonstration projects experiences.
