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urban areas of Kathmandu Valley (includes Kathmandu) with ramifications beyond the urban limits are solid waste and wastewater. In Kathmandu, supervising solid waste and

wastewater has become an overwhelming task as urban areas have grown haphazardly without provisions or plans for suitable infrastructure management and services. Typically, the trend is that first housing is built that leads to settlements and then urban areas spread out without any plan and then infrastructure and services are demanded. In theory, the process should be the reverse. Urban growth should follow plans and provision of infrastructure. The consequences of unplanned and disorganized urban growth are that providing infrastructure and services turn out to be complex and difficult; infrastructure and services provided become incompetent and unproductive; and pressure on the existing infrastructure systems and services augments beyond their capacity as they were designed for certain conditions/limits.

Until the modern development, solid waste and wastewater produced in Kathmandu valley’s urban areas were re-used/ re-circulated in agricultural activities in nearby rural areas (ICIMOD 2007). Most of waste was organic and surrounding areas of urban settlements

were agricultural fields, thus the reuse of waste was possible. Previously, the population of the city was limited to inner core and surrounding areas of the city. In addition, people were largely involved in agricultural occupation and most of them were in fringe area of the city boundary. But, this is not the case anymore and this waste is polluting the environment.

6.2.1 ISSUES OF WASTE

The rapid urban growth in the city over the years has been attributed to

centralization. Most of the administrative, health and services such as educational, health facilities, infrastructure systems and international linkages have been concentrated in the city. Thus, people from all over the country are attracted towards the power centered urban area in Kathmandu. Over the years, urban growth rate has risen from 40% in 1980 to 60% in urban areas of Nepal. More importantly, in Kathmandu population growth has been five fold since 1950 (ICIMOD 2007). With increased population, waste generated has also increased for both solid waste and wastewater.

Kathmandu continues to grow haphazardly and without appropriate planning and infrastructure such as water supply and sewerage systems, solid waste management facilities, and services even though various plans were prepared for urban development of the Kathmandu valley (includes Kathmandu). Properly planned urbanization can play a positive role in promoting economic activities, as well as in promoting conservation of resources to reduce pressure on land resources. The change in consumption habit of

people of Kathmandu over the years have attributed to producing more waste and change in composition of waste such as plastics in solid waste and chemicals in waste water. The city experienced significantly higher commercial and business activities than any part of the country. About 80% of the industries are scattered throughout the valley that have the potential to affect land, water, and the environment. (ICIMOD 2007) Businesses, commerce,

services, and industries generate waste, and this is quite different from domestic waste.

6.2.2 MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

According to a survey in 2005, nearly 450 tons of solid waste is generated each day in the Kathmandu valley. (ICIMOD 2007) The waste generation in Kathmandu in 2004 was 308.4 tons/day with collection of 250 tons/day while forecasted waste generation in 2015 is estimated at 547.9 tons/day. (ICIMOD 2007) The solid wastes generated in the valley are of three main types: household waste, industrial waste and hospital waste. The household wastes are both recyclable and non-degradable. The industrial waste contains mainly metal scraps and some hazardous materials. Health care units generate infectious waste.

The composition of municipal waste has changed over time as consumption patterns altered. Waste generation during a study carried out in 1976, suggested that it used to be mainly organic and degradable. However, since the urban growth and increase in population from mid 1990s, the volume of non-degradable waste has increased considerably. From less than 1% in 1976, the volume of plastic in waste increased to 16% by 2004 and paper by 6-9 % approximately (UNEP 2001). Electronic waste such as parts of mobile phones, computers, televisions, and so on are new constituents of solid waste in the Kathmandu Valley.

The Municipalities are the main responsible bodies at the operational levels for the management of the solid waste on a daily basis. Besides, various non-governmental organizations, community based organizations (CBOs) and the private party are involved in solid waste management activities in Kathmandu. The volume (weight) of materials collected for recycling is less than one-fourth of the total waste generated in the Kathmandu valley, which is about 450 tons and most of which end up in the landfill site at Sisdol.

Table 6.1- Solid Waste Generation in Kathmandu by Type of Waste ( in % of waste by weight) After (ICIMOD 2007)

Current practices of municipal solid waste management in urban areas are summarized below.

Street and Door-to-Door Collection

Municipalities employ sweepers to collect the waste from the streets and at public places. However, they perform their duties mainly in the core city areas and at the places with religious interests. After the 1990s, a different trend started in the valley.

The concept of door-to-door collection appeared as the most suitable way of collecting household waste. Due to the limited number of households and lack of social understanding

Description Kathmandu 2002 2003 2004 Organic 69 69 66.00 Paper 9 9 10.40 Rubber 1 1 0.24 Leather NA NA 0.24 Wood 1 1 - Plastic 9 9 16.30 Textile 3 3 3.58 Ferrous Metals 1 1 0.84 Glass 3 3 1.38 Others 4 4 0.04 Inert - - 1.01 Total 100 100 100 Average Collection % 65.20

at the community level, it was found to be economically unfeasible in the newly developed areas. Thus, the new concept remained limited to the old settlement. Waste collected from the streets, as well as from households that happen to be roadsides in most cases is picked up and transported to open spaces. Waste containers are found in core urban areas, but are unavailable in the rest of the areas of the valley due to unavailability of both containers and appropriate place to position them. Finally, municipal trucks or tractors pick up the collected waste and disposes of it either in Teku, which is the main collection centre in the heart of Kathmandu, or directly to the landfill site at Sisdol, 25 kilometers away from the city center. There are few more waste collection centers in the valley, but others are not as big and

organized as the one in Teku, Kathmandu.

Disposal and Landfill Site

A major issue for the local government since the 1990s has been in finding a

suitable landfill site. The issue to finding landfill site has been plagued by the community and governments friction on using the area as waste dumping and environmental concerns. With

no alternative, the municipalities were forced to

This act was very much inappropriate but there was no other designated place to dump the waste or manage it properly.

not have suitable landfill sites.

residents of Sisdol, a small village in the north

the riverbank and surrounding agricultural land as landfill site. Since June 2005, major portion of the solid waste from the valley is being t

is 25 kilometers from the valley. Origin

operation. This landfill site is operated by the offi