People in Kathmandu have complained that the metropolis has not removed solid waste from their households after Dashain.

The Capital produces around 450 tonnes of solid waste every day but as the Kathmandu Metropolitan City did not remove waste for weeks, many places including Basantapr, Baneshwor, Santinagar, Balkhu, Chabahil and New Road are littered with garbage.

KMC officials, meanwhile, said they could not collect garbage due to ongoing fuel crisis. “KMC is getting 10 litres of diesel from Nepal Oil Corporation and Sajha petrol pump for one garbage tanker for a week, which is not enough to run the vehicles every day. Earlier, we used to get 30 litres,” said Rabin Man Shrestha, Environment Division chief at the KMC.

Currently, the metropolis mobilises 70 vehicles to collect solid waste from the city area.

“We are compelled to live with stink and the pile of garbage is increasing day by day. Waste collectors have not turned up for over a week,” said 30-year-old Shrijana Parajuli of Tinkune.

According to Shrestha, the informal sector has been collecting up to 40 percent of the total garbage in the city. “Garbage collectors from the private sectors are also responsible,” he said. “We will soon overtake this task if they give up.”

Suresh Maharjan, 47, of the Jadibuti said garbage has not been removed from his area after Dashain. “We are facing fuel crisis and shortage of cooking gas, and now, we have to tolerate stink,” he said.

Experts say solid waste should utilised to reduce pile of garbage in neighbourhoods. They argue that biodegradable waste can be converted into biogas, which will help reduce waste as well as reduce dependency on cooking gas.

Dipendra Oli, legal officer at the Solid Waste Management and Technical Support Centre, said his office is working on a detailed project report to convert solid waste into biogas. According to Oli, the project will be completed by 2018 if everything goes all right.