The Kathmandu Metropolitan City said that it has been preparing to dispose of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste separately at the landfill site in Bancharadanda in Nuwakot district.

The move aims to reduce the quantity of waste materials in the landfill site and to produce compost from biodegradable waste, according to officials.

“We will soon start disposing of segregated waste separately at the landfill site,” said Rabinman Shrestha, chief of the Environment Department at the metropolis. “We are also planning to make it mandatory for private waste collectors and local units to segregate waste. Waste segregation is the only way to reduce the volume of waste at the landfill site.”

The city office has already started segregation of household waste from wards 27, 10 and 5. Officials said disposable waste is being dumped separately at its waste transfer station at Teku.

Officials informed that some of the waste is being converted into compost and some degradable waste is going into a bio-methanation plant, which was provided by the European Union.

When the gas from the plant is filled in biogas balloons, it can later be used to generate electricity or to cook. The KMC facility can generate 15 kilowatts of electricity from biogas.

The metropolis has been also using reagents to expedite the process of making compost.

“We will enforce waste segregation rules in all 32 wards of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City first, and then ask other local units in the Kathmandu Valley and private waste collector companies to comply with the rules,” said Shrestha.

Officials say the 32 wards of the metropolis will be divided into eight blocks and the waste materials will be segregated in the respective blocks. The metropolis has also deployed 300 cleaning staff—150 men and 150 women—to collect waste discarded at public places, including roadsides and riverbanks.

The metropolis has arranged five additional garbage trucks to collect segregated waste materials.

Officials hope that the compost will be ready in two months.

Waste segregation at the source was one of the measures Mayor Balendra Shah touted as a solution to Kathmandu’s chronic garbage problem. Upon assuming office, Shah asked city residents to segregate waste at the source.

They started doing so, using separate bins in their homes. But the plan did not succeed, largely due to a lack of preparations on the part of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City office.

The Kathmandu Valley generates over 1,200 tonnes of solid waste a day, and nearly 60 percent of this comes from the KMC alone. Experts say 60 percent of organic waste originating in the Valley can be converted into compost and the remaining 30 percent of non-degradable waste can be recycled.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Veterinary Department of the metropolis said that it has completed sterilisation of over 5,300 street dogs in the ongoing fiscal year. Along with sterilisation, the metropolis had also launched a campaign to administer anti-rabies vaccine to stray dogs.

“Over 17,000 dogs residing in the streets of the metropolis have been vaccinated under the campaign,” said Dr Awadhesh Jha, chief of the department. “The remaining dogs will be also vaccinated and sterilised as the campaign continues.”

The metropolis had also planned to microchip all dogs kept as pets in households within the metropolis, but officials said that due to various reasons, they could not start the programme.

Jha said the goal is to discourage owners from abandoning their pets when they get old or sick. Officials estimate that there are around 20,000 pet dogs in the 32 wards of the metropolis.

Pet microchips are tiny devices that are inserted under a pet’s skin. The chips can be scanned and owners’ information stored in them easily accessed.