Quantification and characterization of the municipal solid waste for sustainable waste management in newly formed municipalities of Nepal

Abstract

This study was conducted to set up a new reference line for municipal solid waste quantification and characterization in the least urbanized cities of a developing nation. A survey was run to collect baseline data from 60 new municipalities of Nepal. The study covered a sample size of 3300 households, 600 institutions and 600 commercial establishments in those municipalities. The municipalities were further stratified according to geographical location, the degree of urbanization, household expenditure and population size to assess the influence on waste generation. The results indicated that the average per capita household waste generation is 115 g day-1 while the average total municipal waste generation was estimated to be 180 g day-1 per capita.The study also revealed that size of municipal population, geographic location, household expenditure and degree of urbanization were found to have a significant influence on the unit waste generation. The larger the size of municipal population the higher the per capita household waste generation, degree of urbanization and per capita waste production. Increasing household expenditure revealed an increase in the unit waste generation. The waste categories included organic waste, plastics, paper and paper products, textiles, rubber and leather, metals, glass, and others. The results indicated that organic waste dominated the characterization (62%), followed by plastics (12%) and paper/paper products (11%).

The impact of COVID-19 outbreak and perceptions of people towards household waste management chain in Nepal

“…Household waste, agriculture waste, industrial waste, hotel and, grocery waste has been the major source of the waste; however, household waste is a major contributor to municipal solid waste in developing countries like Nepal. It is estimated that the waste generated from the household accounts for about 65%- 70% of total municipal solid waste in Nepal (Pathak et al 2020 ). Furthermore, this study found that the amount of household waste has been increased during this pandemic because of medical masks, tissues, and gloves.…”

“…The act seeks to uphold a sustainable and stable atmosphere by reducing the detrimental impact of solid waste on public health and the ecosystem (Asian Development Bank 2013 ). Recently, Pathak et al conducted an SWM baseline study to quantify MSW and its composition and to compile reliable information on the state of MSWM in the 60 newly formed municipalities of Nepal (Pathak et al 2020 ). The average composition of waste in different ecological regions is varied from organic wastes, plastics, paper-products, glasses, metals, textiles, rubber-leather, and other different compositions.…”

“…Regarding the number of paper-products, metals, textiles, and rubbers, this composition is in high proportion in the mountainous region whereas the Terai region ship the lesser amount. However, the area of SWM in Nepal is highly neglected and it has been challenged for over a decade concerning a proper recyclable and fruitful landfill site (Pathak et al 2020 ). Only six municipalities in Nepal, namely Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Pokhara, Dhankuta, Tansen and Ghorahi practice open dumping of sanitary landfills for waste management and other municipalities have not practiced yet which has resulted from major environmental and human health risks (Dahal and Adhikari 2018 ).…”

Application of artificial neural networks for predicting the physical composition of municipal solid waste: An assessment of the impact of seasonal variation

“…The upsurge in the rate of solid waste generation is an unavoidable repercussion of production and consumption activities, and urbanization expansion consequent upon population growth in developing countries ( Gallardo et al, 2018 ; Pathak et al, 2020 ). Sustainable waste management has been prioritized in South Africa to ensure that all generated waste does not necessarily end up in landfills, because most landfill sites are reported to be running out of space for waste disposal.…”

Capacity assessment and implementation analysis of common treatment facility for the management of infectious healthcare waste in rapidly urbanising city of Nepal

“…In this context, we have proposed the CTF under different infectious waste management scenarios and recommended its implementation modality for all the HFs of Nepalgunj SMC as a case study. As accurate estimates on waste generation and waste characteristics are crucial to implement proper waste management strategies or to optimise the design of the required waste management infrastructure and facilities (Pathak et al, 2020), first, we quantified the total amount of HCW, its composition and estimated the amount of infectious waste to be treated in the health facilities of Nepalgunj SMC. Second, we explored the existing scenarios for the capacity assessment and implementation modality of CTF to treat infectious HCW.…”