Kathmandu, September 17

To mark the ‘Clean up The World’ weekend, Clean up Nepal conducted its fourth annual nationwide clean-up today.

Clean-ups kicked off at over 152 locations throughout Nepal between 7:00 am and 11:00 am. Embracing the slogan ‘Our Place, Our Planet and Our Responsibility’, over 36,000 participants from over 400 community entities and organisations donated time and energy to the nationwide clean-up held in 38 districts resulting in the collection of over 100 tonnes of waste.

The opening ceremony for the Annual Nationwide Clean up, 2016 was held at Taumadi Square, Bhaktapur amidst members of the community, and representatives from various organisations. Speaking at the function, Glenn White, Australian Ambassador to Nepal said, “The best way to clean up is to not irresponsibly discard rubbish in the first place.  Campaigns like these are important in raising awareness among people on the importance of keeping surroundings clean.”

SP Kiran Bajracharya, chief guest of ceremony, said, “Nepal Police is ready to support such types of community activities as and when necessary.”

Amod Karmacharya, executive director of Clean up Nepal said, “Nationwide Clean-up Campaign is not just about picking up rubbish; it aims to provide an ongoing platform for raising awareness on local environmental issues amongst the wider Nepali community.”

Clean-ups were conducted in 38 districts. Nepal Red Cross Society coordinated clean-ups in 20 districts engaging over 3,345 individuals and collected 3,461 kg of waste.

Similarly, Solid Waste Management Association Nepal coordinated clean-ups in 20 locations in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Morang districts engaging 2,248 individuals and collected over 23 tonnes of waste, and Nepalese Youth for Climate Action conducted clean-ups in four districts engaging 139 volunteers and collected 848 kg.

Solid waste collected

Rastriya Samachar Samiti

Kathmandu, September 17

A total of six metric tonnes of solid waste was collected in the course of cleaning up the main rivers in Kathmandu Valley today.

As part of the 175th week of Bagmati cleaning campaign, four metric tonnes of solid waste was scooped out from Bagmati-Manohara confluence this morning, according to the High-powered Bagmati Civilization Integrated Development Committee.

Members of the committee, Kathmandu metropolis officials, Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police personnel and volunteers had collaborated for the cleanliness campaign, according to Director of the Committee Rajesh Prasad Singh.

Today alone, two metric tonnes of waste was collected from around Dallu Bridge of Bishnumati on the 110th week of the cleaning. Meanwhile, the committee has taken action against four people for polluting the rivers. They are Kamaruddin Sah, Askar Ali, Ram Naresh Ray, Mangal Khadki. They were fined Rs 5,000 each.