After the Chinese started buying up the bones of slaughtered animals, many slaughterhouses have started supplying the Chinese with the water buffalo bones that they used to dump at disposal sites. They are now making a profit from the waste bones. [break]
It has been more than four years since the Chinese started buying bones in Nepal. The residual layer of meat on the bones of buffalo is regarded as a delicious item in China.
Just a few years ago, people used to sell a single bone for five rupees; the rate has increased to Rs 60. Although the rate varies from one slaughterhouse to another, the Chinese are buying up the bones from different slaughterhouses without any regard for price differences.
“There is a huge market for buffalo bones among the Chinese, and as a result we are earning good money from this waste that we had to dispose of in the past,” said Suman Basnet, owner of a slaughterhouse at Maruhiti, Bishnumati. “It has not only helped us earn more money but also lessened the burden of disposing of the waste. We used to search for places to dump the discarded bone waste as there are no free and open places left for such disposal.”
According to Basnet, over time many slaughterhouses have started selling their buffalo bones and the competition has increase while the profit margin has shrunk day by day. Lack of any fixed price is a problem for the slaughterhouses. They just jack up the price as they please.
Along with the bones, the Chinese are also in the market for buffalo meat from Nepal. The Chinese supply the meat they buy here to countries like Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines at double the price.
“They earn a lot from the buffalo meat and so they are ready to pay any price for the meat in Nepal,” said Rajendra Rijal, a slaughterhouse manager at Maruhiti, Bishnumati. “They have also started buying bones from India, which has hampered our business slightly,” he added.
According to Rijal, India has also started supplying bones to the Chinese, and as a result the bone business here is not as good as before.
With growing demand for buffalo bones and meat in China, some Chinese have opened their own slaughterhouses at Maruhiti to meet the increasing demand. There are now three slaughterhouses in the Valley operated by the Chinese.
“Many other Chinese groups are also interested in opening slaughterhouses here,” said Bijay Khadgi, vice chairman of Nepal Khadgi Service Committee, an organization that works for the interest of slaughterhouses. “It really is good for us and our business. Bones are regarded as useless in our society but valued highly by the Chinese.”
While the slaughterhouse owners are profiting from the buffalo bones, the environment is also improving as the slaughterhouses have stopped throwing their waste bones into the surroundings, especially in the Bishnumati river area.
“Thanks to the Chinese who buy the bones from slaughterhouses, we do not have to warn the slaughterhouses not to discard the bones into the river. Nowadays, we do not see any bones in the river and that reduces the burden of clean-ups,” said Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of Environment Division at Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). “They have stopped throwing the bones into the river, which is very good news for the environment.”
Related story
The art of creative reuse : Upcycling waste and upscaling the e...
