Kathmandu, January 2:

Out of 420 tons of solid waste produced in Kathmandu every day, only 62 per cent is collected and the rest is strewn everywhere causing 59 per cent of the environmental pollution, said experts at a national seminar organised by the Centre for Pollution Studies (CPS) of the Institute of Engineering (IoE), TU, here today.

Manoj K Pandey, associate professor of IoE, said: “Solid waste management system of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is poorly organised and costly.”

“The KMC spends Rs 180 million annually for solid waste management, but has never implemented proper techniques for the same.

Landfill sites and compost plants are opened and closed for several times in Kathmandu failing to maintain appropriate technology and people’s trust.

“The major assessment of the problem is not to levy tax for recyclable wastes but to form appropriate law,” said Pandey. “The KMC should strictly implement the rule and NGOs should not be involved in garbage disposal issues.”

Dr Michael Urynowicz, Professor of University of Wyoming (UW), USA, focused on decentralised wastewater management in the country like Nepal with low operational cost and long-term effect. He stressed the applicability of cluster septic system for wastewater management. Dr KJ Reddy, Professor from UW, said in Nepal 50 micro-gram of arsenic is present in one litre of water and 11 million of wells are contaminated by arsenic that could cause health problems like skin lesion, blisters and cancer.

Meanwhile, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is going to be signed between the Institute of Engineering, TU, and the University of Wyoming, USA, regarding the transfer of technology and scientists between the universities tomorrow.