PM Deuba speaks on importance of waste to energy

By Purna N. Ranjitkar l

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba urged the local bodies to work towards producing gas and electricity from waste by setting up waste treatment plants for the long-term solution of the problem related to waste management in the urban areas, including the capital. “Energy has been generated by setting up waste treatment plants in several cities, including Dharan. Vehicles have been run by using this gas generated from these plants, he stated.

Prime Minister Deuba was addressing a function to launch nationwide typhoid vaccination campaign in Kathmandu the other day. Under the programme children between the ages of one year, three months to 15 years would be administered the vaccines against typhoid.

Earlier on August 31 last year PM Deuba called Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to take immediate measures to collect waste and avoid the health risks of the residents.

Prime Minister Deuba directed the authorities to make arrangements for garbage collection. He also instructed Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand to make necessary arrangements to ensure peace and security in the landfill site at Sisdol. During the meeting, Mayor Shakya said that it was difficult to dispose garbage because of the dire condition of the road leading to the landfill in Nuwakot.

Some 150 trucks engage to carry around 1,000 metric tonnes of waste generated in the valley on normal day. 

Obviously, biogas technology in Nepal is not a new stuff. This has been applicated in Nepal since 65 years. So far 435,000 domestic biogas size plants have been installed in country. Similarly thousands of institutional size biogas plants and some larger size biogas plants (including 3,000 cubic meter and 4,000 cubic meter plants) have been constructed and being operated to produce biogas, bio-fertilisers and even electricity to some extent. They are doing well in utilising cow dung, poultry waste and municipal wastes as raw materials and generate biogas, bio-fertilisers mainly. Some plants are equipped to generate electricity as well. Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) has been engaged in promotion of biogas technology in Nepal as part of renewable energy promotion movements.

KMC also had installed a waste to energy plant which started operating in October, 2016 with generating 14 kW of electricity and bio-fertilisers. But due to some reasons, the plant stopped working.

The plant installed at Teku had capacity to process three metric tonnes of organic waste daily and produces 300 kilograms of dry compost, 96 kg LP gas and 13,500 litres of treated water.

The Kathmandu Valley witness heavy hips of garbage in the nooks, corners and streets time to time – 3 to 4 times in a year. The reasons are said to be worse road condition to landfill site or locals protest interrupting the loaded tucks to pass through.

KMC alone is not get suffered but also other 17 municipalities including Lalitpur Metropolitan City and Bhaktapur Municipality as waste management is a common problem to all.

Mostly in the monsoon season, the transportation of garbage to dumping site gets disrupted because of the muddy road as trucks carrying garbage sink into the slushy ground. In that section, a 300 meters road stretch between Kolpu Khola to Valley 1 of Sisdole landfill site is in urgent need of repairs. There are three landfill sites called Valley 1, Valley 2 and Valley 3 in the Sisdole site.

The landfill site at Sisdole, around 27km northwest of Kathmandu is spread over 740 ropanis of land (37.65 hectares). Formerly this was a gorge, filled up the garbage for years and being used although it has already reached its capacity. KMC started dumping garbage collected from the valley at the Sisdole site with an agreement that the site would be used for 3 years, but 15 years later garbage continues to be dumped there. The agreement was signed in 2005.

Bancharedanda is a new dumping site situated between the border of Nuwakot and Dhading districts near Sisdole. The site is spread to an area of 1792 ropanis (around 91 hectares). The government had spent Rs. 1.9 billion to construct the site. This site is equipped with sanitary landfill system also. That means toxic leachate which percolates from the waste will be treated before they are discharged into rivers.

If Kathmandu Valley residents change their behaviours in segregating the waste they generate to be good to reuse and recycle like making compost fertilisers, materials made of papers, glasses, plastic and rubber to recycle and the waste generated will meant a lot to waste management procedure. That will help Bancharedanda site to be good for using for more than 50 years. 

However, the valley people will not likely to change their behaviour soon and the authorities will not be able to punish them for defying the waste management norms. Therefore, some other practicable solution must be thought to get rid of waste management problem of the Kathmandu Valley.

That means mode of waste transportation should be changed and the dumping site should be turned to be segregation, recycle and waste to generate energy site.

For the transportation of waste or garbage generated in the valley, a ropeway system may be brought into consideration. Ropeway system will replace the use of waste carrying trucks, use of road, avoid fossil fuels and support air pollution control. Consumption of electricity generated in the country and public health benefits will be the positive contribution.

Similarly, total waste arrived at the site will need to pass through a segregation process. That will help reusable and recyclable waste to put aside. The organic waste will have to be used for a waste to energy plant to generate biogas and organic fertilisers. The reusable and recyclable materials will be brought back by ropeway to handover to respective users or industries. Then Bancharedanda will give waste management service to the Kathmandu Valley for more than a half century in the real sense reducing a number of hassles as well. This will be a real benefit of the technology, contribution environment protections activities and benefit to public health.