Kathmandu. Garbage has started being sold in Tamghas, the headquarters of Gulmi. The Municipal Development and Environment Sanitation Committee has started selling the non-biodegradable waste collected in Tamghas to Palpa Nepalese West Bank.

As per the agreement, plastic bottles are being sold at Rs 10 per kg, Red Bull bottles at Rs 80 per kg, HDP plastic at Rs 8 per kg, water bottles at Rs 10 per kg, iron at Rs 15 per kg, glass at Rs 1 and tins at Rs 5 per kg. The Town Development and Environment Protection Organization collects waste from 1,765 households in Resunga Municipality-1, 2, 7, 8, 9 and some parts of the municipality.

The committee, which has two tractors, two drivers and two assistant drivers, collects garbage from the market six days a week except Saturdays and dumps it at the garbage disposal site. According to the committee, two tonnes of kitchen waste is collected daily. The bank has hired three workers to separate the waste. The bank pays them according to the amount of garbage. The committee earns Rs 20,000 from the sale of four truckloads of garbage from Gulmi in a month, said Ram Prasad Panthi, chairman of the committee.

Benefits to water sources and settlements

When the garbage is being sold, the water source will be cleaned. When the garbage is not sold, it was burnt in Okhreni. As a result, Okhreni, Udindhunga, Jeep Park, Bedukharka and other villages always used to stink.

The foul smell used to spread all over the road while going from Tamghas to Okhreni to Bedukharka and Bhanpani and other villages. Meena Khatri, a local, said that the stench has now disappeared.

Similarly, there is a water tank at the bottom of the garbage dumping site. The water is collected in the tank of the Tamghas Metropolitan Water Consumers and the people of Tamghas Bazaar drink it. Many questions were also raised on the drinking water committee due to the lack of proper management of garbage. Saraswati Sartunge, a local consumer, said that the source of drinking water will be purified after the waste is sold.

Resunga Municipality has provided assistance for waste management. The waste management and sale started only after the municipality allotted the land for Rs 13.80 lakh. Out of this amount, Rs 7 lakh has been paid so far and Rs 6.80 lakh is yet to be paid.

Mayor Khildhoj Panthi said that it is the responsibility of the municipality to keep the market clean and the committee has supported it. He expressed happiness that the committee has earned income from the sale of garbage on the one hand and the market has been cleaned on the other. The municipality has been providing Rs 10 lakh as grant to the committee annually for the management of garbage.

Similarly, Panthi, who is also the chairman of the committee, said that there is a plan to make compost from the degradable waste. So far, the degradable waste has been buried in a stream near Okhreni. He said that now the work will be started to convert the waste into compost at a cost of about Rs 14 lakh.

“We are coordinating with the municipality and managing the degradable waste will make the city even more beautiful.” “The role of everyone is equally important in making the city a beautiful Resunga,” said Panthi. The Town Development and Environment Sanitation Committee has been managing waste in Tamghas since 2061 BS.