Although waste collectors hired by Kathmandu Metropolitan City office do not separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes, they have been found to be mixing even the segregated household refuses.Sunita Thakuri, a housewife, separates the organic waste from the non-degradable ones. "But the waste collectors mix them all together," she added.
Likewise, Parbata Luitel, a student, said, "I separate organic waste to make fertilizer and put non-degradable waste separately."
Interestingly, both KMC office and private companies, which collect waste from households of Kathmandu city, mix biodegradable and recyclable wastes before taking the garbage to Okharpauwa Landfill Site in Nuwakot.
According to the Solid Waste Management Act 2011, the wastes should be segregated at the source itself and disposed of separately. Likewise, the act states that hazardous and chemical waste should not be dispatched to solid waste collection centers or transfer stations without treatment.
However, the act has yet to be enforced.
"Several people segregate wastes and maintain separate plastic bags for degradable and non-degradable wastes. But we mix them up while loading the wastes into the truck," said Buddhi Dahal, a waste collector.
Both KMC and other 55 private organizations, which include local clubs, community groups, NGOs and cooperatives, are involved in solid waste collection in KMC, deploying more than 4,200 people.
About 50 percent of the total staff of KMC is involved in waste management and about 40 percent of the city's annual budget goes into managing garbage.
The city generates about 507 metric tons of waste every day.
Although KMC had introduced a plan to collect degradable waste on one day and recyclable waste on another day, it did not succeed.
Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the Environment Division at the KMC, said that the office has made several attempts to collect waste separately, but none could succeed.
"We are aware that degradable and non-degradable wastes are mixed up before they are taken to landfill site," he added.
Shrestha further informed that the KMC is planning to establish an energy plant of three metric tons capacity for producing electricity from degradable waste.
The local government bodies of the Kathmandu Valley as well as in other areas have yet to comply with the Solid Waste Management Act 2011.
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