Dirty Kathmandu

What will it take Kathmanduites to keep the city clean?

by PRAVAT J GURUNG

FROM ISSUE # 162 (June 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
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MIN BAJRACHARYA

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle. We've heard it over and over again but do we put it to action? Often we see, we hear but we don't follow. It has never been our priority to keep, the city we live in, clean or may be we're just tired of trying to keeping it clean. The attitude "this is just the way it is and no matter what you do, nothing is going to change" prevails in all of us and its second nature for us to point the finger at someone else.

Our government, which keeps changing like the unpredictable weather, hasn't been able to keep the city clean too. Every now and then, garbage's can be seen all over the city piling up because the dumping site populace keeps blocking the way. The Kathmandu Municipality office has not been able to deliver what they are supposed to deliver and the dumping site populace comes with implausible demands. The Department of Transportation looked after by Ministry of Labor and Transport Management, provides green stickers at a certain price to vehicles which emit more smoke then it's suppose to rather than banning it from plying in the streets of Kathmandu. Need we say more? Government's plan and policies aside, what will it take for us, the Kathmanduites, to keep the city clean? That's the million dollar question that has surfaced like the sewer in Kathmandu every Monsoon.

ANUP PRAKASH

Bring forth the garbage that a household churns out add to that dirt from all around the city, pollution, toxic waste released in the rivers, growing population and vehicles and we have a dirty Kathmandu! Everytime we pass by the Bagmati Bridge or any other bridge for that matter, the horrible stench leaves us wondering how people are living around it. All of us know that something should be done but we don't. Have we ever thought while throwing that trash out of our car or bag or house on the road? And where it ends up? Well, it goes into the sewer and it blocks it. The result? Water starts surfacing above the ground, especially during the Monsoon season inviting various diseases. Our homes are painstakingly clean but we ignore the trash smelling and rotting right outside our house. Isn't it high time we thought about chucking that trash in the right place?

ANUP PRAKASH

It is but the opportunists that we are, we give making hay while the sun shines a whole new meaning. It's sad to see that something that was once only seen on the faces of doctors to avoid infections in hospitals and on some tourist is now a basic necessity to survive in this city. What are we talking about- face masks. So much so, that it has now become a fashion statement and shops buzz with colorful and attractive masks. They might not admit to it but some even tend to buy masks to match with their clothes. Is this what we call adaptation? If we go on throwing trash at the rate that we do, mask might just be a part of our national dress. But jokes apart, who is to be blamed for the dirt, smoke and smell that we try to keep away from with the use of the mask? Pointing fingers at others is easy but aren't we to be blamed too?

Keeping Kathmandu clean is not just the government's job but ours too. Ultimately it is us who live in this city. We might overlook the preaching about reducing, recycling and reusing but it does help reduce the amount of garbage coming out. For instance, using paper bags or jute bags instead of plastic bags helps, not only to reduce carbon emission in the air, but to reduce garbage too. The first image of Kathmandu that greets an outsider as soon as they exit Tribhuwan International Airport is just plain embarrassing. Instead of the scenic Shangri-la, what greets them is the stinking Bagmati River, unplanned housing and bus stops, unruly micros and not so green trees and grass. Is this the image we want to portray?

Let's not just depend on someone else to keep OUR city clean, let's start cleaning it ourselves. You don't have to carry a broom to do so. Like everything else, it starts from you, your house and then it moves out to the society. If we are to use our civic sense more, a cleaner Kathmandu is inevitable.

Garbage Facts – Why should we reduce, reuse and recycle?

1. Plastic carry bags decompose in 15 to 1000 years while paper carry bags decompose in just 2 to 5 months.
2. Aluminum cans decompose in 80 to 100 years.
3. Plastic bottles and cans never decompose.
4. Cigarette takes a year to 12 years for decomposition.
5. Leather shoes decompose in 25 to 40 years.
6. Glass bottles decompose in 1,000,000 years.
7. 1/3 of our trash is recyclable.
8. Garbage as they decompose in landfills and/or dumping sites emit methane gas which is highly dangerous as it can explode and can increase global warming at an alarming rate.