Gandaki, Feb 3: Garbage has piled up along the roadsides, junctions and residential areas of Pokhara over the past several days after garbage collection services were stalled.
The situation has raised health concerns and sparked public dissatisfaction with the Pokhara Metropolitan City.
The accumulation of uncollected waste has not only made the popular tourist destination a sorry sight but has also increased the risk of diseases and environmental pollution.
The problem surfaced after the temporary landfill site at Lame Ahal in Pokhara-32 reached full capacity and with no alternative landfill site at sight.
Pokhara currently generates around 180 to 120 tonnes of trash daily. The landfill reportedly filled up following a surge in waste generation during recent public activities, leaving the Metropolis without an immediate alternative disposal site.
Netra Timilsina, Metropolis’s engineer and facilitator for the Green Job Creation through Recycling and Upcycling Project, shared that they are urgently searching for alternative location including sites in ward no 21 to resumes regular waste management.
“The problem in waste management arose after a large volume of garbage was generated during last September’s Gen-Z movement, which filled up the Lama Aahal landfill site,” he explained, adding that a search for new site is underway.
“Even today we inspected some prospective locations for landfill site in ward no 21,” he divulged, confessing despite the continuous efforts of the Metropolis, waste could not be collected due to lack of alternative space to dump the waste.
He pledged to manage the garbage piled up in the streets and thoroughfares in Pokhara within few days.
According to him, local residents are requested not to trash their household wastes onto the streets for few days. “Citizens have their own responsibility in waste management,” he argued.
He also called for cooperation and facilitation on the part of the local residents for land management for constructing landfill sites.
The Metropolitan few days earlier had dug up pits in public land to bury the waste after the prolonged delays in garbage collection.
Local residents demand immediate and proper waste management, citing the increasing accumulation of waste in their houses apart from the street.
They have highlighted the need for sustainable solution to the waste management.
They warn that if long-term solution is not sought, the problem is likely to recur unless a permanent site is constructed.
Until a few years ago, waste was being managed through a landfill site constructed at Bachchhebuduwa of Pokhara–18. The landfill site was closed after the Pokhara International Airport came into operation.
Although the Metropolis has been implementing the Green Job Creation through Recycling and Upcycling Project, it continues to face challenges in managing non-productive waste.
The Project, aimed at promoting a green economy by establishing recycling and upcycling enterprises based on a circular economy system, replacing the current “throw-away” practice, is being implemented in financial support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency and technical support from the United Nations Development Programme.
The Metropolis expressed its hope that the project will help reduce pollution and mitigate the adverse environmental impacts caused by solid waste, thereby offering a sustainable solution to the pressing problem of the Metropolis-waste management. #nepal #rss
