Lalitpur, March 2:

The Resource Centre for Primary Health Care has started a campaign against the use of polythene bags in Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city (LSMC).

The centre, in coordination with LMSC and Luzza Nepal, is also planning to declare Ward No 20 of the LSMC by making it an area free from use of plastic bags.

Addressing a programme organised by the centre here today, president of Luzza Nepal Anusuya Joshi said the main objective of the campaign was to discourage people from using polythene bags, which are not degradable, and seeking alternatives.

She also said the10 percent of the garbage produced by the LMSC comprises plastics. The LMSC produces 90-100 tonnes of garbage daily. While the production process of plastic bags itself causes environment pollution, the plastics cause waste management difficult as 96 per cent of them are thrown into landfill sites, she said.

She also said they would organise public awareness programmes — at the local level, in educational institutions and in hospitals — against the use of plastic bags, after developing LSMC-20 as a model ward. “We will collect polythene bags, plastics and packaging materials during the campaign,” she added. She also asked all concerned to discourage use of plastic bags in supermarkets and groceries.

Pradip Amatya, chief of environment and sanitation section at the LMSC, said the sub-metropolis was facing problems of collecting, transporting and managing garbage. “The dumping of waste without segregation is the main problem in waste management,” he said.