Assessment on Municipal Waste Released, Management and Recycling in Supply Chain in Major Three Cities of Nepal

In Nepal solid waste management is one of the major environmental issues, especially in the urban areas. While solid waste management (SWM) has become a major concern for municipalities and the country as a whole, the status of SWM is not fully understood due to the lack of SWM baseline data, which are also essential for effective planning. On the other hand plastics based waste management and recycling activities in the major cities of Nepal has not adopted in the sustainable manner. Such a back drop, this research attempts to assess the plastic waste released, management and recycling in supply chain in three cities in February to August, 2018. A total 150 city households level information (@ 50 HHs/city) were collected using personal interview schedule and a weekly total waste volume from household level had been taken. Further, waste collection, distribution, management and recycling data in supply chain were collected from street wrappers, small and big Kabaadi shops and plastic industries from cities using rapid market appraisal technique. This study revealed that about 47% household segregate their HH waste which is fund higher in Hetauda (83.8%), followed by Bharatpur (46.9%) and Butwal (28.6%). About 6.7% HHs have had public waste collection bin nearby their home whereas 71.1% surveyed HHs have had knowledge on solid waste management. About 40% HHs heard of importance of plastic waste recycling and majority (91%) express their readiness to segregate the plastic solid waste if recycling program is set up in municipal area. It revealed that 49% HHs concern about effect of human health and 40% concern the effect on environment from solid waste whereas 68.9% HH have preferred door-to-door type of waste disposal system. It is also noted that 23.3% of surveyed HHs in cities are practicing composting at their form yard using traditional composting methods (46.8% have used pits and 32.4% used compost bins). The household level waste composition analysis indicates that highest waste fraction is organic matter (69.4%), followed by plastic (19.8%) and 10.8% are metal, glass, paper, textile, rubbers and leather. The plastic waste composition at household source is found higher in Bharatpur (29.6%), followed by Hetauda (21.4%) and Butwal (3.8%). The average per capita waste generation per day is found to be 160 gram ranging 141-177 gram having 19.5% plastic waste in cities. For institutional establishments and sectors, the average daily waste generation is 5.3 kg. The composition of institutional waste is 30.5% organic, 29.8% plastic and 39.7% other.

Author(s): Rishi Ram Kattel

Abstract | PDF

Share This Article