Thanks to the effort of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), the unbearable smell emitting off tons of garbage at the transport station of Teku has been completely cleared off.Starting three days ago, trippers and dozers had been mobilized to remove the stocked garbage to Sisdol landfill site at Okharpauwa. The garbage transport station, which holds at least 350 tons of waste products, has now turned into a parking lot for heavy machineries of the KMC.
The last pile of garbage stocked at the transport site was cleared off on Sunday. Although the KMC used to transport garbage on a daily basis, at least 150 tons used to remain at Teku's transit station.
"Residing around here was like a living hell. The smell was unbearable and it felt like vomiting whenever I used to go for morning walk. The piled garbage have been finally cleared off, a huge relief for residents like us," said Bhusan Bajracharya, a local of Teku.
"The KMC has finally listened to our queries and worked as we had expected. Let's hope that they keep up the good work," he added with a wide grin.
According to the KMC, the transport site at Teku holds around 350-450 tons of garbage everyday and 17 trippers have been used to transport the waste to Sisdol.
"In the first place, we don't have enough trippers to transport the garbage to landfill sites. Moreover, the old containers we have are no longer in use. This time, we doubled our work force and endeavored to clear this site and we have succeeded," said Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of Environment Management Division of the KMC.
He further informed that they are in course of purchasing four new trippers in a month from now.
The cost of one tripper ranges from Rs 3 to Rs 3.5 million and each can carry at least 10 tons of garbage in one trip.
Now that the garbage have been cleared at Teku, the problem lies with the management of garbage that have reached Sisdol. While piles of wastes have already overflowed in the area, the government is still struggling to find a permanent waste-dumping site.
"The need to find a permanent landfill site is urgent. But, if the wastes that get generated from households are controlled and segregated, the heavy flow of garbage can be reduced significantly," said Shrestha.
Related story
Resolving Kathmandu Valley’s solid waste problems
