Field Visit to Kirtipur

Location: Kirtipur, Teku-12, Sisdole landfill site, Nepal
Time period: 3rd – 5th November 2019

During Dr Pia Hollenbach’s visit to Nepal, she accompanied the Nepal team on a regular site visit to the Sisdole landfill site, Kirtipur Waste Management and Service (KWMS) Composting Unit in Kirtipur (on the 03rd) and a Co-operative at Teku-12 formed by Informal Waste Workers.

Background to Kirtipur Waste Management and Service

KWMS was established in the year 2013 and works in the segregation of recyclable waste. In 2012, the government of Nepal conducted a programme in the Kirtipur Municipality titled, Aafno gaun afai sarsafai garau(clean your village on your own). A survey was conducted in Panga of Kirtipur Municipality which generated data on waste, after which KWMS was encouraged to engage in this sector.

The ‘Polluters Pay’ principle which was first recognised as an internationally agreed principle by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1972 and was introduced in Nepal under section 17 of Environment Protection Act, 1997, which states that the cost of pollution should be borne by the person responsible for causing the pollution and consequential costs. Under this principle, the government was allowed to  collect a waste fee from people who generate waste. Prior to that, the municipality itself was responsible for the collection of wastes.

The onset of the Polluters Pay principle paved a way for the private sector such as KWMS to collect the waste fee at the household level. Nearly 1,000 compost bins were distributed by the Nepalese government along with 03 waste vehicles and other equipment such as wheelbarrow and gloves to the Kirtipur Municipality. After that, KWMS started working under the boundaries of a project called PRISM (Poverty Reduction of Informal Waste Workers in Solid Waste Management Sector) which was initiated through the support of Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD). Currently, KWMS is working on the partnership with Society for Environmental Conservation and an organisation named Blue Waste to Value.

A public-private partnership

On March 2018, after the local elections, KWMS signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the local Chairman of Kirtipur Municipality. As per the MoU, KWMS is permitted to cover certain areas of Kirtipur Municipality to collect waste. Currently, KWMS collects waste from 1,200 households of Kirtipur. KWMS receives 2% profit as a waste service fee for collecting waste at the household level and 1% of the share goes to the municipality as per the rule of the Polluters Pay principle. Efforts have been made by the municipality to manage waste through the private sectors by increasing membership from households. If households do not take up membership, municipalities forbid other services to those households. Some of the households are not habituated to the changing concept of waste practices.

KWMS now has a composting unit that it had invested in and other private companies such as Blue Waste to Value and Clean Nepal work on the land provided by the municipality. Kirtipur Municipality has a special account designated for the purpose of solid waste management and currently, four private companies are given the responsibility for solid waste management including:

1. KWMS
2. Clean Nepal
3. Swachha Batabaran Sirjana Kendra
4. Sirjansil Batabaran Samrakshan Kendra.

These 4 companies fall under the Kirtipur Waste Management Committee and KWMS has taken the leadership of organising meetings. 

Sisdole landfill site

On November 04th 2019 a visit was scheduled to the Sisdole landfill site and the new sanitary landfill site under-construction at Bancharedanda. The new sanitary landfill site falls under the Kakani Rural Municipality-2 of Nuwakot district. It is situated in 2.03 Hectare of land and is estimated to last 30 years. It is estimated that around 200-250 cubic metres of waste can be deposited at Bancharedanda every day.

The Sisdole landfill site started in 2005 is the only landfill site in operation for disposing the waste from Kathmandu. This landfill site falls under Kakani Rural Municipality-2 in Nuwakot district of Nepal. It covers 432 Ropani (area) of land. On an average 6 tonnes of waste are transported in waste trucks on a daily basis. It was initially designed for 02 years but has already crossed the 15-year mark.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) collects 350 metric tonnes of waste daily that is being managed at Sisdole landfill site. Currently, the waste from all 18 municipalities of Kathmandu Valley including,

1. Lalitpur Metropolitan City
2. Kathmandu Metropolitan City
3. Kageshwori Manohara Municipality
4. Kirtipur Municipality
5. Gokarneshwor Municipality
6. Shankharapur Municipality
7. Chandragiri Municipality
8. Tokha Municipality
9. Tarkeshwor Municipality
10. Dakshinkali Municipality
11. Nagarjun Municipality
12. Budhanilkantha Municipality
13. Godawari Municipality
14. Mahalaxmi Municipality
15. Changunarayan Municipality
16. Bhaktapur Municipality
17. Madhyapur Thimi Municipality
18. Suryabinayak Municipality

are being managed at Sisdole landfill site. The problems observed in Sisdole landfill site include:

• The negative impact on agricultural land
• Bird hazards
• Foul smell in the surrounding areas of the landfill
• Flies constantly hovering nearby the landfill site
• Leachate
• Muddy road during the monsoons
• Health problems among waste workers.

The scavengers working in Sisdole have formed different groups. There are around 60-70 scavengers hailing from districts including Rasuwa, Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk. Their daily income on average ranges from NPR 1,000 to Rs 1,200. 

Community Reactions at Sisdole

There is a mixture of different ethnic groups living within the periphery of the Sisdole landfill site. These include Balami (Newar caste group), Tamang and Simkhada (Brahmin caste groups). During an interview with the locals residing in the peripheries, they informed that the foul smell peaked from 12:00 – 15:00h daily especially during the Summer. They said that the stench at times got so bad that they couldn’t even eat their meals inside of their homes. The went on to speak on the bird hazards in the area especially with the increase in eagles and other birds of prey. Owing to the foul smell, the locals of Sisdole protested and managed to receive compensation of NPR 7,000 per year for the impact caused on women, children and even cattle. 

Other problems in the area included the acquisition of land for road construction and road expansions and the waste spillage from the waste trucks.

The Co-operative at Teku-12 formed by Informal Waste Workers

On November 05th, the Nepal team and Dr Hollenbach visited Sanyukta Safai Jaagaran Bachat tatha Rin Sahakari (SaSaJa) at Teku-12, the only co-operative in Nepal formed and run by Informal Waste Workers (IWW).

Established in the year 2012, the only criteria to become a member of SaSaJa was to be an individual working in waste management. In order to become a member of the cooperative, a waste worker first needs to become a member of its sister organisation by the same name and also present a valid identity card or citizenship card. The cost for membership at SaSaJa organisation and SaSaJa cooperative is NPR 100 each. At present, there are a total of 820 informal waste workers who have obtained membership at SaSaJa.

The co-operative is responsible for providing savings and loans facilities. The waste workers can save anywhere from NPR 100 to NPR 2000 per month. The co-operative does business accumulating to eleven million seventy thousand per year. The co-operative has been providing 15% interest to members saving above NPR 70,000 and 18% interest to members saving up to NPR 60,000. Both SaSaJa co-operative and SaSaJa organisation are found to be complementing one another in their progress.

Speaking to the manager of SaSaJa, Ms Maya Tamang said that the motivation to start the co-operative was the PRISM project, a four-year project initiated by CIUD, Practical Action and the European Union (EU). During the time period of this project, waste workers were divided into different groups and given training and health insurance. The children of the waste workers were provided education and for every child studying in boarding schools, NPR 500 was borne by the project every month. Similarly, those children studying in governmental schools were provided with school bags and uniforms. The project also provided training on starting businesses. SaSaJa has been collecting NPR 100 per year for bearing any emergency medical costs of its members. They even provide NPR 2,000 for immediate health treatment in the form of a donation.

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Seen in the featured image: Informal Waste Workers (IWW) are seen searching for recyclables among the piles of wastes disposed at Sisdole landfill site.

Story by: Drishti Upreti 
Pictures by: Yash Man Karmacharya, Drishti Upreti