KMC to set up four waste segregation centres

Kathmandu, November 26

Kathmandu Metropolitan City is looking for open spaces to set up waste collection and segregation centres in the city.

KMC said it was planning to set up at least four waste collection and segregation centres in Kathmandu where garbage would be will be segregated before being dumped at the landfill site. KMC Spokesperson Gyanendra Karki said they were looking for open spaces in Balaju, Handigaun and Shankhamul areas.

“We have yet to finalise the areas. Waste collection and segregation centres will help KMC manage waste in a more systematic way,” Karki said, adding that once the segregation centres came into operation, only non-degradable waste would be dumped at the landfill site.

Of the waste collected in Kathmandu Valley, 80 per cent is degradable and 20 per cent non-degradable.

“If 80 per cent waste goes for reuse, KMC will have to manage only

20 per cent waste.” He added that KMC was facing waste management problem as both degradable and non-degradable waste was being dumped at the landfill site.

Earlier, KMC and related stakeholders of garbage management had decided to request Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to establish a permanent landfill site.

According to KMC, representatives of all municipalities and rural municipalities in Kathmandu have demanded closure of the Okharpauwa landfill site as it can hold garbage produced

in Kathmandu Valley only for the next six months.

KMC had begun disposing garbage at the Okharpauwa landfill site only as a temporary solution to waste management. Initially, it had planned to use the site only for two years until a permanent landfill site was built at Bancharedanda. However, KMC has been dumping garbage at the Okharpauwa site for the last 12 years.