Plastic Pollution and Poor Waste Management In Nepal : How Local Markets May Provide a Solution.

As stated above Kathmandu does not have any formal waste management systems, meaning that when you are walking the beautiful streets of Kathmandu, you are quickly overthrown by piling mounds of garbage. The streets of Kathmandu are covered with plastic and waste, seeing stray dogs rummaging through these piles is often a common sight. Quickly the rivers of Nepal, such as the sacred Bagmati river is becoming polluted with trash and plastic. Seeing a public trash bin is a rarity in Nepal, this means that people will often just dispose of their trash by throwing it on the ground or burning it in the street. Some municipal governments in Nepal offer private waste collection but that comes at a cost of approximately 200 rupees, which may be a barrier to some residents.

The reason I chose to write about waste management and plastic pollution is that I have been fortunate enough to witness how local supermarkets have been able to create opportunities to combat these severe problems. The people of Nepal have started to realize the importance of encouraging localized markets and how they encourage a person to make environmentally sustainable decisions. My reasoning for mentioning this here is because a lot of local products that are sold at these local markets have traditionally been made from biodegradable materials. They are sturdy and environmentally friendly. Rather than using those suffocating and weak plastic bags, local farmers’ markets allow us to become more environmentally responsible with the decisions that we make. I have had the pleasure of touring several different local supermarkets as a part of my mandate. These once a week events not only provide a refreshing place to interact with people, you are also able to see first-hand the efforts people are making to become plastic-free. Such efforts include bringing a container for eggs, reusing old newspapers as wrapping, and the good old method… bringing your own reusable bag. These local markets are paving the way for a plastic-free Kathmandu. Some markets such as the Boudha Farmers Market insist that no single-use plastic is used by any of the vendors during the market.

The organization I volunteer for also prides itself on being conscious of their plastic use. OWF prides itself on operating in the most environmentally sustainable ways. They boycott the use of plastic bags and will provide customers with reusable bags free of charge, and a majority of their products are packaged using heavy-duty plastic which allows them to be re-used.

Plastic pollution and waste management are severe problems that appear to go hand-in-hand in Nepal. Nepal must come up with proactive ways to completely boycott the use of single-use plastics, and a formal waste management system needs to be introduced to clean up the mess that has already been made.