Sandhya lives in Maiti Devi and her area doesn’t have much open space but with lots of households around. What infuriates her more is that the accumulation of garbage dumped at random corners leaves foul smells. Though her neighbor has been warned several times for the misdemeanor, he turns a deaf ear.[break]
“We clean our area and have our waste collected but our neighbor is reluctant to pay the garbage collector,” she says.
She has even caught their neighbor throwing garbage near her home several times. “We haven’t been able to do anything about it till now. When there’s no support from people, it’s hard to keep a community clean,” she adds with a sigh.
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There are many households in the capital who share similar woes like those of Sandhya’s. With improper waste management system and ignorance, the problem has rather intensified. In highly developed countries, waste is managed scientifically by separating recyclable and non-recyclable wastes right from home so that the waste is reduced and reused. But here, municipality workers are limited to just collecting and transferring waste. Moreover, as opposed to pragmatic practices abroad, the garbage here is left unattended for days, sometimes even leading it to rot.
It is also not an uncommon scene to witness people conveniently throwing food wrappers on the streets and through the windows of their sleek vehicles as they pass by. There isn’t a day when you don’t get to see people spitting on the road. Moreover, street vendors, too, are seen on the sidewalks next to piles of garbage, showing how accustomed people have become to see waste being dumped just anywhere.
“Many years back, garbage used to be dumped by riverbanks. Now, the waste of Kathmandu Valley is collected by vehicles and is dumped in the Sisdol landfill site of Okharpauwa Village in Nuwakot District. We follow the oldest form of waste treatment which is burial disposing,” says Rabin Man Shrestha, Environment Division Chief of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC).
KMC has employed its workers in every municipal ward to collect waste thrice a week in the morning by 8 am. “But sometimes there’s problem when people don’t place their waste properly and scatter it and throw it on the main streets,” he says.
As per the Solid Waste Management Act 2068, people can be fined from Rs 500 to even Rs 100,000, depending on seriousness of the breach of law. But that hasn’t deterred people from throwing garbage on the street anyway.
Sampanna Shrestha, 35, and a banker by profession admits that he throws food wrappers when he is out. The idea of keeping trash in his pockets or a bag until he finds a dustbin doesn’t even cross his mind as he is habituated to toss it anywhere on the street.
“There are hardly any dustbins kept on the roads and most of them are left open and are overflowing, so where should I dump the waste?” he questions.
Some years back, one could see huge green containers on the streets. But now, a few small dustbins seem to have replaced them. What is further ridiculous is that most of the dustbins in the capital have holes at the bottom from where the waste spill out onto the streets.
“I even saw one of the containers stolen and being used by a hospital in the capital. Some were burnt and the spots where containers are placed became filthier due to overflowing waste. Which is why they were removed from the streets. Many shops opposed the idea of putting a dustbin near their area, and with little support from them, we haven’t been able to place dustbins in all areas,” says Shrestha.
According to KMC, the same Act also prohibits hospitals from mixing up their waste with household garbage. But there were instances of hazardous and non-hazardous waste from hospitals being dumped together and mixed with city garbage without following proper mechanism. KMC thus announced to defer from collecting hospital waste which poses high risks to public health.
While KMC is headstrong on bringing in more refined system to manage waste, there are a few private organizations working in the sector of waste management. One such private organization that has been working since 1998 is The Environment Conservation Incentive Association Nepal (ECI) which collects waste on alternative days from households, restaurants and cold stores.
Devi Prasad Ghimire, coordinator at ECI, informs that 65 to 70 percent of the waste of Kathmandu Valley is being collected and managed by the private sector.
“Waste has been divided as house waste, industrial waste, business waste and cold stores waste which are all collected and dumped at the Sisdol landfill site,” he explains.
The organization has been collecting waste from Budanilkantha and Chapali Village and of ward numbers 16 and 29 of Kathmandu Valley by charging Rs 200 to Rs 300 monthly per household.
“We have also proposed the idea of segregating and composting waste to the government so that it can be recycled and reused,” says Ghimire.
Recently, the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), a government authority, introduced a campaign to promote and encourage effective waste management technologies to generate energy for household and commercial purposes.
According to Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, the Solid Waste Management Act was amended last year but the rules and regulations that come under the Act are still being drafted.
“The first priority is to process waste so as to make it reusable and plan for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) in support with the community, village development committees and wards,” he says and adds that people should pay waste tax in time and the Metropolitan City should also provide equal support.
Dr Sumitra Amatya, Executive Director of Solid Waste Management Technical Support Centre of the Ministry of Urban Development, says that only 10 to 12 percent waste of Kathmandu Valley, like paper and plastic, is being recycled and used for compost.
She explains that under the public-private partnership solid waste management program, the process of recycling waste has already been advocated and is in its final stage to be implemented.
“Our main plan is to segregate waste and reuse, recycle and reduce maximum waste to lessen the problem of waste management,” she says.
While the government authorities are carrying out their respective programs, meanwhile, local efforts have also paid off.
Samir Khadka, 24, is a student who has been proactive in involving his neighbors to keep their area at Mandikatar clean. They come together every Saturday morning and to clean their area and everyone is happy with the results of their joint effort.
“I’m just tired with people complaining about what Kathmandu has become – filthy with potholed streets and garbage everywhere. Instead of reflecting on how clean and green our city was, people should do something about it. Everything starts from home, so why not support cleaning campaigns themselves?” asks Samir.
There are efforts from the government and public sector as well to manage waste. But unless there is equal participation from every individual, it will be hard to keep the city clean. Discipline should come as a second nature and efforts should start from home. Rather than playing the blame game, cleanliness and a garbage-free city is possible only if its citizens are aware and develop cleanliness as a virtue rather than an obligation.
nistha.rayamajhi11@gmail.co
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