BEST PRACTICES ON SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT OF NEPALESE CITIES
Transporting and final disposal
BSMC is dumping its waste at three different sites.
Two leased sites which are allocated by BSMC are 6
km from the main market. According to BSMC, the
estimated remaining life span of both of these open
sites is two years. The third area is on the bank of
Singe Khola, at a distance of 4 km from the main
market area. The contractor is filling a section of the
river bank with waste; a municipality source
mentioned that they had not calculated the remaining
lifespan of this site. They also mentioned that they are
discouraging riverside dumping after the end of 2007.
During the field visit, the contractor was seen dumping
filling material (ash) at the Singe Khola site in order
to avoid pollution risks.
Two tippers, each with a capacity of 3 tons, six tractors
with trailers that can carry 2 tons each, one excavator,
one power tiller , 25 rickshaws, each capable of carrying
300-500 kg and three handcarts with a capacity of 50
kg are used for waste collection and dumping
(BSMC,2008 data). It is estimated that total of 50 tons
of mixed waste is dumped every day. Rough data from
the municipality show that waste generation from
residential areas is only 30 tons/day.
Using the growth rate provided by CBS Nepal, the
projected population of BSMC for the year 2008 is
205,876. Multiplying this by the per capita generation
rate of 0.33 kg/capita/day gives the result of 68 tons
for the daily generation of waste. Hence, 74 per cent of
the waste that is generated is being collected and
disposed. During the field visit, there were no signs of
open burning, waste pickers, or scavenging animals at
the dumping sites. It was observed that special or
hazardous wastes were mixed with municipal solid
wastes at various collection stations and that the
municipality and contractor are facing problems caused
by hazardous wastes.
Organisational and
financial aspects
One engineer, one public health inspector, four technical
assistants, five supervisors, five drivers and seventy-
nine manual workers are working in solid waste
management (BSMC, 2008 data). According to
approximate data from BSMC, 50 employees of the
contractor, Samajik Sudhar tatha Batabaraniya Bikas
Manch are involved in door-to-door collection. The
Municipality spent NRs.9.56 million in the 2006-2007
fiscal year for solid waste management (BSMC, 2007
data). The contractor charges NRs.30 to NRs.1,500 per
premises according to the service provided.
Approximate data shows that the contractor was
collecting approximately NRs.100,000 per month from
various service beneficiaries, including both residential
and commercial premises. During the BSMC-Silt
contract, Silt collected annual fees totalling NRs.1.0
million from the door-to-door collection service
(SWMRMC, 2006 data). According to BSMC data, the
total expenditure of the sub-metropolitan city in the
last fiscal year was NRs.132 million (BSMC, 2007 data).
BSMC expenditure per capita for that year was
NRs.641.00. It is calculated that BSMC expenditure on
waste management was 7.3 per cent of total expenditure
in the last fiscal year.
Major problems and issues
Despite its effective system of partnership for waste
management, the municipality is facing problems of
increasing population, a poor response of the citizens
towards waste minimisation, staff shortages, financial
constraints etc. Obstacles that add to these problems
are: the lack of authority to make financial and
administrative decisions, a shortage of trained
personnel, the lack of a standardised vehicle fleet and
frequent breakdowns, a lack of enforcement measures,
uncontrolled squatter settlements, poor cooperation
between public and private sectors, and inadequate
stakeholder coordination.
There is an urgent need for a landfill site for sanitary
disposal of solid waste. The present arrangements may
cause serious water pollution because the contractor
is dumping waste on a river bank and the other two
open dumping sites are also not safe for dumping. The
municipality should take proper action in order to
control haphazard dumping of infectious waste from
various private nursing homes. Nevertheless, the
municipality has achieved its goal of building
municipal capacity in municipal solid waste
management. It has also considerably reduced
municipal expenditure after implementing the measures
that have been described.
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