Until a few months ago, the Godavari Municipality of Kailali was unable to manage the waste generated from the market, resulting in the pollution of rivers and forests. Piles of garbage were visible on the roadside. The stench of it reached the vicinity of Attariya Bazaar. But the Godavari Integrated Waste Management Center, which came into operation last July, has permanently solved this problem. It has also brought ease to the lives of the locals.

Tarakumari Tamata, a local from Godavari-3, used to worry about where to dispose of her garbage. She did not separate the biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste generated from her home. She was forced to fill all the garbage in buckets and search for rivers and forests.

But since the waste management center came into operation, this problem has been solved for Tamata forever. Now, she does not have to search for rivers by carrying garbage in buckets. Instead, the municipality's tractor comes to her house twice a week to search for garbage.

Tamata said that since the waste management center was built, the forests, jungles and rivers have been cleaned. 'Our garbage has been collected and taken away from home. The rivers and streams have also been cleaned. It has also saved us the time we had to go to throw garbage,' said Tamata. But she has to pay the municipality a monthly fee of 100 rupees for garbage collection.

The center was built under the Regional Urban Development Project with the loan of the Asian Development Bank. Like Tara, Dawal Bahadur Saund, a local from Ward No. 2 Attariya, also says that pollution has reduced after waste management started. According to him, before the management center was built, the municipality used to give a contract to manage waste. The contractor used to pile the waste collected from the market area under the bridge, near the river, or in the forest.

Tractors come to the Attariya market area two to three times a week to collect waste. The smelly garbage on the roadside, in the river, and in the forest has reduced. Saund, who looks happy with this step by the municipality, says, "Nowadays, there is no garbage anywhere. Locals are also aware that they should not throw garbage indiscriminately, as it affects our environment."

This center not only collects the waste of the municipality, it is also teaching the locals how to store which waste and how to manage recyclable waste . 

However, this landfill site built in Malalekhet, Godavari-3 was not built by Godavari Municipality . This center was built under the Regional Urban Development Project with a loan from the Asian Development Bank . A contract agreement was signed with China's Sichuan Province Geological Engineering Company for the construction .

The construction company completed the work within the contract period after signing the agreement in Asoj 2079. The center has been built in the Chowkidanda Community Forest Area with a modern structure with an investment of 516.9 million rupees by ADB.

ADB has invested 90 percent for the land tenure in the construction of the center . The municipality has invested 10 percent. During the environmental impact assessment, the municipality's deputy mayor, Sharada Rokaya, said that there were no problems in the construction work due to the coordination between the local community forest and the municipality.

The management center, which has been in operation since last Shrawan, was operated by Rikesh Shrestha, an environmental engineer at the Regional Urban Development Project Dhangadhi. The contract to operate this center has now been awarded to Matrubhumi Sankaran Pvt. Ltd.

At the center, biodegradable, non-biodegradable and lead-based waste are managed separately. Biodegradable waste is converted into compost, while non-biodegradable and reusable waste are kept for sale separately. However, Engineer Shrestha says that there are problems in recycling due to the lack of proper waste separation from homes and hotels.

'If reusable plastic is kept in biodegradable waste, it becomes difficult to reuse it.' If the locals kept their waste separately, it would have helped in management,' he said.

Although the construction of the construction company

was completed and put into operation, the Urban Development Department has not handed over the management center to the Godavari Municipality. Currently, the contractor company is operating the center under the supervision of the Regional Urban Development Project. Similarly, it has been agreed to operate for three years.

Regarding the handover to the municipality, Engineer Shrestha says, 'After the contractor operates it for three years under the supervision of the Urban Development Department, a framework is formed. It will be easy to operate the municipality later in that framework. We have planned to train 8 people and teach them how to generate income when handing it over to the municipality.'

He says that it may not be possible to operate it if it is handed over to the municipality at the beginning and there may be a budget shortage. The management center has the capacity to manage 13 metric tons of solid waste and 13 cubic meters of fecal waste daily. According to Shrestha, 13.67 tons of waste are currently managed there every day.

Deputy Mayor of Godavari Municipality Sharada Rokaya says that the waste management center, built with a large investment, will help manage Godavari's waste for a long time.

'At a time when waste management is challenging in an area undergoing increasing urbanization, this waste management center will help solve our problems,' she said. 'Segregating and managing waste will also help in environmental protection.'

A two-and-a-half-kilometer-long access road has been built at the center. The waste collected at the center is classified. Compost will be produced from the rotting waste, while recyclable waste will be sold to the farmers. The municipality expects this to reduce environmental pollution and provide organic fertilizer to local farmers.

But the problem is caused by the lack of staff to manage waste, says Purple Kunwar, supervisor of the municipality's waste management branch. According to him, locals consider waste management to be a low-level job.

'Actually, removing waste and making the city clean is a high-level job.' But public awareness about this has not spread in the community,' he said, 'This is the problem in finding staff.'

The hospital has also been complaining that the management center is unable to manage the waste generated by the hospital. He says that if the hospital itself boils the waste in an autoplate, it will be easier to collect and manage. But since not all hospitals have autoplates, there is a challenge in hospital waste management.

Goal to generate income from waste

Although the waste management center can generate income from compost manure and recycling, it has not been able to generate income yet. Engineer Shrestha says the reason for this is the lack of public awareness among the locals.