Written by: Akshita Bhattarai - 32039, Grade V
Posted on: 26 June, 2024
You don't see a lot of garbage piled up in the streets of Kathmandu like you used to anymore. The stench that blew across your nostrils is not there anymore. So, you may ask "What changed?" Well, first, the garbage collectors come early in the morning and collect the trash before we go out on the streets. They do this regularly now. Second, our mayor has been looking into this issue personally ever since he became the mayor. The garbage that polluted our rivers and made people sick is taken care of. The garbage collectors take the garbage to a landfill site about 30 kilometres away from Kathmandu and dispose of it. That place is not near any human settlement so that people don't get sick easily. Diseases like cholera, hepatitis and diarrhoea spread through areas that have garbage piled up. It is an added burden to our healthcare system. Our hospitals are seeing less number of patients with infectious diseases in recent years.
Although we practice landfills and controlled tipping to get rid of our waste right now, we still have liquid waste (sewage) flowing into our rivers. The best way to deal with garbage is to separate the types of waste. You recycle what you can, you make compost from organic matter and dump the rest away from cities. Hopefully Kathmandu will be able to do all of that some day.
