It'll take a week to clear piled waste

Kathmandu, May 20: Kathmandu’s streets are repeatedly littered with garbage thrown on the roads from every household in the city. Now when the residents  are waiting for the final election results sitting in front of their television sets, the entire city looks ugly with the heaps of garbage accumulated everywhere from Koteshwor to Gausala and from New Baneshwor to  New Road. 

Lack of a long-term waste management plan and non-cooperation of the people in keeping the city clean are blamed for this recurring problem. This is the third time the problem of waste management has plagued the city. 

Although the waste piled up on roads for days was removed from some areas on Wednesday, the roads looked littered with dirt again on Thursday. 

A few vehicles have started carrying waste to the Sisdol landfill site, only one landfill site in use for now, since Wednesday but the garbage dumped for many days in the city thoroughfares take at least one week to clear all if there is no obstruction in the landfill site, said Sarita Rai, acting head of the Environment and Agriculture Department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC).

Last time, the waste transportation had resumed on May 7 with the help of Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force after an obstruction lasting for two weeks. This time around, the obstruction was created by the locals of the Mudkhu-Tin Piple road section. They obstructed waste disposal demanding for blacktopping the road under Pashang Lamhu Sherpa Highway. “The obstruction is created every time putting forth various demands for which KMC is not responsible. They obstruct the dumping of garbage demanding road construction but that is not our responsibility, it is the responsibility of the Road Department,” Rai said. 

The Department of Road had contracted the task to construct and maintain the road to Sailung Construction Company in 2014 but the road is not completed yet. 

“So we are facing the problem due to excessive delay of the construction company,” she added.

 The Sisdol landfill is the dumping site for 18 municipalities but everyone is pointing fingers at us because KMC generates half of the total waste generated from the Valley. “Every government body should work for the long term solution.”

“We have been collecting garbage from Tuesday and collecting 250 trucks of trash every day but we don’t know which group obstructs disposal again,” Rai said.  In the last three months, the collection halted for two months. Locals target only the vehicles carrying the garbage. 

According to Rai, the Banchare Danda landfill site located on the border between Nuwakot and Dhading districts is still in limbo. The vehicles going there should pass through the Sisdol landfill site so the road should be managed for the vehicles to pass. 

There are also other demands from the locals at Banchara Danda. “Obstruction starts from a transfer station in Teku to every point up to the landfill site. We are addressing every demand but all the concerned government bodies should join hands to address the problem,” she said.

Every day the Valley generates around 1,200 metric tonnes of solid waste, of which 50 per cent comes from the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. 

In 2005, the KMC started dumping garbage collected from the Valley at the Sisdol site with an agreement that the site would be used for three years. But it's been 17 years since garbage continues to be dumped there due to a lack of alternatives. 

The site has become a stinking hillock of 80 metres. The vehicles should climb the hillock of garbage to dump the waste which is impossible during the rainy season because of the fear of slipping, according to rai.

The problem is huge and until and unless we find out a long term solution, such as generating power from the waste and minimizing waste  production from each household through segregation process, Rai added