The Kathmandu Metropolitan City is now undertaking another venture: separate disposal of biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage in its landfill site in Banchare Danda, Nuwakot. This is aimed at cutting the landfill overflow (the city’s waste makes up 60 percent of the 1,200 tonnes collected in the Kathmandu Valley in a single day) and also to produce compost from biodegradable waste. Experts estimate that 60 percent of the organic waste from the Valley can be converted into compost, with the remaining non-degradable waste being recyclable.

The plan is big this time. The KMC has already started classifying waste collected from wards 27, 10 and 5. Later, as per the officials, they will mandate all households in 32 wards to separate degradable and non-degradable litter, thereby collecting only segregated ones. The city has already deployed 300 cleaning staff to collect the littered waste on roads and riverbanks and added five trucks for garbage collection. Officials hope the compost will be ready in two months, and biogas produced from bio-methanation plants will be used to generate electricity or cook food, while reusable waste can be sold to generate revenue.

This is a commendable step, as waste woes have long been a headache for the Kathmandu metropolis and the Kathmandu Valley. However, given KMC’s previous failed efforts, it could only be a matter of time before this one, too, vanishes into thin air with no tangible outcomes. In the past, after assuming office as the mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra Shah asked the city dwellers to classify waste at home. Many followed the orders, but the garbage collectors mixed up the waste as they loaded it into the trucks, and the city failed to comply with its own rules. The plan never saw light of the day even during the tenure of former mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya. At that time, KMC’s Environment Department had launched a similar campaign in some wards but couldn’t take it further. Lackadaisical approaches, policy inconsistencies and poor preparation were the main reasons behind the failure of waste management in the Valley.

What the KMC, mayor and authorities have lost in this process is the trust of Kathmanduites. Now that the city has come up with another plan, the first order of business is to reassure the general public that it will not be futile. For this, the authorities should expedite the process and mandate people to classify the waste. As important is to make people aware of their environmental responsibility and waste disposal habits—which waste goes in which dustbin. The officials should employ people to monitor the classification activities as well. As in the past, the segregation at source approach shouldn’t be abandoned.

Effective solid waste management in the Kathmandu Valley requires the federal government’s support. While the law calls on local bodies to take sole responsibility to manage solid waste, the Urban Ministry is tasked with providing technical assistance to the local bodies and conducting research for sustainable waste management. Now that the KMC wants to find a sustainable solution to this problem, the government should help it in every possible way. The public’s discipline in managing garbage, clear plans and policies from the local levels and federal assistance can make the Valley a better place to live. Lest we forget, these small steps towards sustainable waste management will save precious lives of people living near the landfill site.