Municipal solid waste management: Discourage Plastic Use

Kathmandu, June 29

Even as they struggle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, countries today are staring at another crisis—of biomedical and plastic waste. Single-use plastics used to make personal protective equipment, face masks, shoe covers and goggles for doctors and healthcare workers are contributing to a huge, increase in medical waste, creating environmental hazards and increasing the risks to waste workers. This is in addition to the waste management challenges that cities are already grappling with, especially of plastic waste.

Plastic waste can take hundreds of years to decompose. Meanwhile, they choke waterways and leach harmful chemicals into the soil and water, affecting terrestrial and aquatic life, ecosystems and human health. Studies suggest that micro-plastics in the human body could alter chromosomes, leading to infertility, obesity and cancer.

Improperly disposed waste ends up blocking urban drainage systems and causes waterlogging and flooding. A study from Bharatpur (Nepal) and Sylhet (Bangladesh) suggests that returns on investments in urban drainage infrastructure could be negated in five years if municipal waste (including plastic) isn’t properly managed.