Kathmandu, September 9

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has finally disposed of the garbage collected at the Teku Waste Transfer Station over the past several weeks.

Garbage collected at the transfer station was ferried to the Sisdole landfill site, Okharpauwa, Nuwakot yesterday.

Locals of Teku had been pressing the KMC to remove garbage collected at the transfer station, saying foul smell emanating from the garbage had posed serious health risks to the locals.

TWTS has the capacity of storing around 5,000 metric tons waste, but over 15,000 metric tons of solid waste had accumulated at the transfer station after Sisdole locals padlocked the landfill site.

In the past, the KMC had been dumping over 500 tons of waste at the transfer station on a daily basis.

Rudra Singh Tamang, chief executive at KMC, said, “From now onwards, waste collected at the transfer station would be immediately sent to the landfill site.”

Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of Environment Management Division at the KMC, said waste collected at the landfill site must be held there temporarily for segregation and treatment. Recyclable, reusable and reducible waste must be segregated before being disposed of, he said, adding it had taken the KMC almost a month to clear the garbage at the transfer station.

Bhusan Bajracharya, a local of Teku, said he was happy to find that the garbage at the transfer station had finally been ferried to the landfill site.“It would have been better if segregation of waste started at household level. Public participation in solid waste management could reduce the volume of garbage at the transfer station,” said Bajracharya.