ADB_book_18 April.qxp - Himalayan Document Centre - icimod

managing solid waste. They are particularly involvedin awareness, waste collection, and street cleaning.Some NGOs have piloted door-to-door collection,composting, and recycling (NEFEJ 2004). Oneemerging concern is the management of hazardouswastes. There is no clear state policy on this. Medicalwaste, obsolete pesticides, batteries, effluent, andbyproducts of industries are the main sources ofhazardous waste. Few health institutions haveautoclaves and incinerators: and where they existthey are quite often not in operation.Urban Environmental ConcernsSolid WasteQuantity and NatureThe municipalities of Nepal generate over 1,350 tonsof solid waste every day. Kathmandu alonegenerates 383 tons/day, slightly less than one-third ofthe total municipal waste. Household wasteconstitutes about 75% of municipal waste. Themunicipal waste varies from 0.11 to 0.93 kg perperson per day, with an average of 0.34 kg per personper day (SWMRMC 2004). The households on theoutskirts of the smaller towns (which, althoughfalling within the municipality boundary, are rural innature) reuse most of their waste for feeding animals(pigs and cattle).With the change in consumption patterns andlifestyle of urban inhabitants, the composition ofsolid waste has been changing over the years, fromtraditional organic materials to papers, plastics, glass,metals, and packaging materials. Even so, about twothirdsof municipal waste is still organic orbiodegradable although the composition varies frommunicipality to municipality. A recent study(SWMRMC 2004) showed the following averagecomposition of the solid waste generated inNepalese municipalities:(i) Organic material 66% by wet weight (with arange of about 39 to 95% from municipality tomunicipality);(ii) Metal, glass, paper, and plastic combined,20% by wet weight (range 5 to 50%); plasticalone constitutes 7.6% (range 1.6% to 21%);(iii) Inert material 9.6% (range 0 to 37%); and(iv) “Other” (including medical waste) about 5%.Management Practices and ConcernsSolid waste is the most conspicuous environmentalproblem across Nepal’s urban areas. According toADB (2000), until the 1980s, municipal solid wastemanagement problems were negligible other than inKathmandu Valley—most of the waste generatedbeing organic and thus managed at the householdlevel.Sweepers clean the streets and open spaces,collecting the waste into roadside heaps usingbrooms, picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows; waste isalso picked up from roadside heaps or bins andtransported to disposal points by tractors and trailers,power-tillers, rickshaws, or other wastetransportation vehicles. However, the solid wastecollection rate is generally low. On average only 35%of municipal waste is collected; but rates vary fromabout 7% to as high as 86% from one municipality toanother (SWMRMC 2004). Disposal of waste ishaphazard. Even the capital city dumped wastealong the riverbanks until very recently. Almost allmunicipalities currently lack any landfill site; Pokharamunicipality started disposing of solid waste at alandfill site after a long negotiation with the peopleresiding in the neighborhood, and the Solid WasteManagement and Resource Mobilisation Centerrecently reached agreement with the local people todispose of the capital city’s waste at Sisdole for twoyears, by which time a long-term site is expected tobe ready at Okharpauwa.Sisdole Landfill Site for Kathmandu RefuseRandom and insanitary collection and disposalof urban solid waste in Nepal is the result of lack oflong-term perspective; deficiency in the planning,provision and operation of infrastructure; insufficientpublic lands that can be accessed for waste disposalpurposes; and absence of a holistic and integratedsystem for solid waste management. Solid wastemanagement is generally understood as sweepingthe street and dumping waste in places where itreceives no public opposition. Hence, waste iscommonly dumped on public land, forest,riverbanks, and other places ill-suited for thispurpose. Irregularity of collection is common, withheaps of garbage found piled up on the streets.NEFEJ108 Environment Assessment of Nepal : Emerging Issues and Challenges