President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday launched the National Solid Waste Management programme Pilisaru which is envisaged to propagate the vision of making Sri Lanka a country free of solid waste by 2012. Launching the biggest programme of its kind with an allocation of Rs.600 million, the President emphasised that the country's development would not be at the expense of nature. The President while calling all hands to deck in achieving optimum levels in waste management, emphasised that the Government would not hesitate to initiate strict provisions in its efforts to improve environmental conservation. He said it was noteworthy that all 330 local bodies around the island will be involved in this programme. Recycling, composting and power generation using biological waste will be among the projects. "We do not want to sacrifice the environment in the development process. We want to leave our rich environmental heritage to the future generations. That is our aim,' he remarked. According to Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka the project is expected to address issues pertaining to solid waste management with a national approach by enabling local Governments to function as participatory units in the process of disposal. Also according to the Minister a National Policy on Waste Management would be developed with new legislation being introduced to deal with issues such as garbage collection and dumping.