Kathmandu, July 15

Provided everything goes well, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City will be producing 14 kilowatts of electricity from waste generated in the city by August as part of a one-year pilot project supported by the European Union.

The KMC office has already allocated space within its premises where three waste-to-energy equipment will be installed. According to the metropolitan city office, the three machines costing Rs 18,200,000 will be imported from Pune of Maharastra to Nepal on July 22.

“We have set everything here to generate electricity from waste,” said chief of the environment division of KMC and Director of Promoting Integrated Sustainable Solid Waste Management Project Rabin Man Shrestha.

“But customs hassles on the border, road obstructions in Nepal during monsoon, and others hurdles may push the targeted schedule to around mid-August,” he told The Himalayan Times, “If the machines arrive on time without any hurdle, we should be able to generate electricity by August.”

The installation process would begin after the machines arrive, and for the first time in Nepal KMC would generate power from solid waste.

The system will be able to hold three tonnes of garbage for 21 days in the preliminary stage. After the preliminary stage, the system will consume three tonnes of solid waste per day, producing 14 kilowatts of electricity.

The Environment Division of KMC said that the electricity generated from waste would be used by the KMC office.

Besides this, the KMC is planning to replicate the project in other municipalities if the one-year pilot project succeeds. “Other municipalities have expressed their interest in the project, so the KMC is thinking of replicating the programme in other municipalities if the pilot project succeeds,” said KMC Spokesperson Gyanendra Karki. “With the generation of power from waste, waste management will also become easier.”

The environment division said the project was just a preliminary effort to produce electricity from waste. Besides generating power, the KMC is set to produce 96 kg of gas, 300 kg of bio-organic fertilisers, and 13,500 litres of purified water from the garbage collected in Teku.

A total of 450 tons of garbage is produced in the Kathmandu Valley.