KATHMANDU, Jan 23: While the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is preparing to draft a guideline to charge garbage producers, some institutions and firms have already started to pay the KMC for the garbage produced by them.
According to the KMC Environment Division Chief Rabin Man Shrestha, Hotel Soaltee, European Union, Bir Hospital and Patan Hospital have already started paying the KMC for the waste. KMC is already earning Rs 50,000 per month from these organizations.
The KMC officer mentioned that the 34 containers have been placed near the major waste producers including hospitals, hotels and factories.
A committee led by the chief of the Environment Department of the KMC, Shanta Ram Poudel, is set to submit the guideline that has fixed certain charge on the basis of the garbage produced. Shrestha said that the committee was to submit the draft during the last fiscal year but it was delayed due to some internal reasons.
"Though we had earlier finalized separate rates for garbage, stakeholders questioned the basis of charging the different rates so we could not implement it," said Shrestha. He added that the office would increase the numbers of its big containers once its new plan is implemented.
As planned earlier, KMC will set separate fees for households, schools, factories, hospitals and hotels. The charges would be determined as per the quantity and hazardousness of the waste they produce.
According to KMC officials, they have planned to charge fees ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 50,000 per month. Large and hazardous waste producer like hospitals and factories will have to pay up to Rs 50,000 per month.
Of the total 450 tons of waste produced in the Kathmandu Valley per day, KMC has the capacity to collect just 300 tons. Similarly, the private sector collects around 100 tons. Though KMC gives permission to private sector garbage collecting firms on condition that they will dump the waste only at the landfill sites in Sisdole and Okharpauwa, KMC has received several complaints of the private-sector garbage collectors dumping the waste haphazardly and polluting water sources.
A study by the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilization Committee states an individual produces 250 grams of waste on an average in Nepal. Likewise, the Solid Waste Management Act 2011 authorizes the municipalities to file case at the District Court and District Administration Office that can sentence up to one year jail term and Rs 100,000 fine if any individual/organization is found dumping garbage haphazardly.
A study shows that 332 kg of waste is generated by Bir Hospital alone per day when there is 65 percent occupancy, while the waste volume reaches to over 500 kg during the full occupancy. Of the total waste, 75 percent is highly infectious. Other hospitals in the capital still don´t sterilize the medical waste.
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