Shweta Malla

Kathmandu

Every day walking along the dusty roads of Kathmandu, all we can see is litter everywhere. It has become a habit of not just a few but most of us, after eating something the wrapper is thrown on the road, or we mindlessly empty our litterbins here and there.

However, there are some who have researched on this problem and some who are working on how to reuse this waste. There is a great need for recycling today. Recycling ensures a cleaner and healthier environment for all. Very few people and organisations are aware of the fact that recycling does leave a positive impact on our daily lives, and have motivated others to follow. Mahila Tatha Bal Kalyan Kendra (MTBKK) and Women Environment Preservation Committee (WEPCO) are two organisations striving to create a healthier environment for all.

Realising that women have to be empowered, Bhaktapur Municipality initiated to conduct a programme on paper recycling to provide jobs to the economically backward women of Bhaktapur also helping to reduce the pile of waste paper and hence pollution. For the past eight years Bhaktapur Municipality has been providing financial help to the MTBKK located at Kamal Binayak. The programme was also funded by UDLE, a German organisation for the benefit of the women.

“We started around five years back,” informs Sharmista Tamrakar, programme coordinator, MTBKK, adding that there are at present seven women working for the paper-recycling programme. The programme has been very effective and has provided employment to the underprivileged and financially weak women. Bhaktapur Offset Press and Zilla Sikshya Karyalaya provides them with wastepaper and in return they provide them with stationeries. The objective of the committee is to help the poor and backward women to be self-reliant and reduce pollution by recycling the waste paper. “Basically we focus on improving the living standard of the women and the children,” Tamrakar says.

The programme has been very productive in terms of producing various stationary materials from the recycled papers. They produce products like plain sheets of paper, sketchpads, lampshades, trays, name cards, notebooks, photo frames, files, albums, envelopes, notebooks, paper boxes and greeting cards. The programme is the first to be launched in this particular field and is doing well. They provide stationeries to various government offices and also to Khuappa (which means Bhaktapur in Newari language) College and High School. The property of the office also belongs to the Bhaktapur Nagarpalika.

WEPCO is a non-profit organisation established in 1992 by a group of women from Lalitpur in response to a growing awareness that the environment in Kathmandu Valley was in danger. The growing volume of waste caused by increasing population and excessive consumption is one of the most urgent problems in the Capital. As a result, WEPCO has made ‘disorganised garbage’ its priority.

WEPCO’s goal is to enable the people of Kathmandu to have a clean and healthy environment through the initiatives of local women and students. “WEPCO has completed more than 100 training sessions on environmental awareness among community women and schools. It has several women’s environment groups working in Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City. It has formed 90 clubs

in schools, involving more than 6,000 students in six districts. Students of eco-clubs help create awareness of household waste management in their communities,” elaborates Sudha Poudel, vice president, WEPCO.

“WEPCO has a staff of 15 women and 10 men who are

supported through the sale of recycled paper and garbage collection services. It is involved at the policy level to promote advocacy against the burning of waste, and the expansion of waste management at the community level,” adds Poudel.

“WEPCO, which collects and manages garbage from more than 3,000 households from Lalitpur, has proved that using the three ‘R’ principle (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) at the community level can control waste pollution problems in an urban municipality. WEPCO established demonstration sites for paper recycling and organic and vermin compost and has supported many households to start their own composting,” feels Bishnu Thakali, programme coordinator of WEPCO. She says that since the last four years, the community people support the organisation and they collect Rs 50-100 by collecting waste from their homes. Earlier, SNV, Danida and CCO funded the organisation.

It is a significant challenge for educated people in an underdeveloped country striving for

development and where able

bodied poor, dependent poor and disabled poor reside. People have to try to search for appropriate solutions for the collection, treatment, disposal or reuse of domestic waste.

Therefore, technologies of waste management, which are simple, practical and economical to use should be developed. With the current energy crisis, the concept of waste recycling rather than simply waste treatment has received wide attention in most developing countries. There is an obvious need to either control population growth or to produce more resources for human needs.