1389 पटक हेरिएको 
Kathmandu : Every year, the world generates nearly 242 million tons of plastic waste. Asia accounts for an estimated 81 percentage of plastic waste. In Nepal, out of 3.5 million ton of municipal waste generated each year, about 600,000 ton is the plastic waste.
Kirtipur municipality generates 24.5 metric tons of solid waste per day (i.e. approx.9000 tons/year), with plastic waste accounting for 15.06% (i.e. approx. 1500 tons/year). Plastic pollution and its severe health and environmental implications are visible everywhere in the air, soil, water bodies, especially marine ecosystems, and human health due to the exponential use of plastics in our everyday lives and its haphazard disposal.
With increased manufacture and use of plastic items, particularly single-use plastic bags, fewer attempts have been made to reduce plastic usage and manage used plastics in a safe and sustainable manner in order to mitigate the ecological damage caused by haphazard plastics. There is now over 8 million metric tons of plastic waste in the world’s seas, with over 8 million pieces of plastic entering our oceans every day (Plastics in the Ocean Statistics, 2020-2021).
In order to demonstrate how plastic waste can be minimized through systematic collection and recycling and upcycling them, CIUD has officially launched a project titled ‘Using Innovative Technology to Establish Plastic-Managed Communities and the Rivers in Kirtipur Municipality and Adjacent Wards of Neighboring Municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley’.
Funded by the UNOPS/SACEP/ The World Bank under their PLEASE project, the project implies innovative technologies and approaches to help promote plastic-managed communities of the ward numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Kirtipur Municipality and adjacent wards of neighboring municipalities of Chandragiri Municipality and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City lying along sides of the Balkhu River.
The Plastic Innovation Project, or the project in short, was designed to address acute plastic issues and to revolutionize the way communities handle plastic waste by incorporating advanced waste management technologies, fostering local entrepreneurship, and promoting sustainable practices of managing plastic waste. This project aims to serve a model for other communities to follow, emphasizing collaborative efforts and cutting-edge solutions to one of today’s most critical environmental concerns.
After signing a memorandum of understanding with the Kirtipur Municipality for their financial and technical partnership, the project was officially unveiled at an inception workshop on August 22.
In the workshop, Mr. Khir Man Singh Basnet (Prithvi), Chairman of Ward Number 6 of the Kirtipur Municipality, in his welcome remarks, expressed that the project would not help minimize the waste generation, but also will promote a waste-based entrepreneurship. Mr. Ghanashyam Basnet, representative of ward number 15 of the Chandragiri Municipality shared that the solid and liquid waste management is a trans-boundary issue that needs to be resolved in close coordination among the municipalities.
Mr Nabin Biksah Maharjan, Executive Director of CIUD, shared about the PLEASE project including its objectives, key activities, expected result as well as the project modality.
In the closing remarks, Ms. Shuva Laxmi Shakya (Sunita), Acting Mayor of the Kirtipur Municipality, pondered her view that the project outputs and outcomes should be institutionalized to ensure its sustainability through the training and promotion of waste-based entrepreneurship incorporating various dynamics such as branding and marketing. She also urged that the project should have the close coordination with the local stakeholders including women’s groups.
The inception workshop was attended by approximately by 60 representatives from Kirtipur Municipality as a local authorities, local stakeholders as well as delegates from adjacent wards in neighboring municipalities. The program was also featured by representatives from community women’s groups, waste management-based private stakeholders and the project partners.
