A Study on the collection of Waste PET Bottles in the Kathmandu Valley

Submitted by: Development Inn Pvt Ltd GPO-8975, EPC-2955 Kathmandu, Nepal
Study Team: Chiranjibi Rijal, Dr. Kishor Atreya, Anukram Adhikary and Nowal Kishore Bhattara

A Study on the collection of  Waste PET Bottles in the Kathmandu Valley

http://www.himalayanclimate.org/images/projectMultipleSubPage/GaHteA%20Study%20%20on%20Waste%20PET%20Botlles%20-%20internal%20doc1.pdf

The Kathmandu Valley with five municipalities (Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Kirtipur, Bhaktapur and Madhyapur Thimi) produces the highest amount of solid waste in Nepal amounting to approximately 620 tons per day. This comprises of 19% of plastic waste consisting of polyethylene bags, plastic wrappers, mineral water, and soft drink bottles, also known as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles (ADB, 2013). One of the crucial components of plastic waste is the PET bottles. Consumers dispose the PET bottles after use but these bottles potentially have a high value as a resource, i.e. they can be recycled into raw materials, which can then be used for manufacturing textiles, carpets and other industrial products. As a result, PET bottles, due to their potential for high monetary return, are readily picked by waste pickers, which are then sold to waste collectors. These waste pickers or primary waste workers (PWWs), whose earnings fluctuates with the market, are sparsely organised.

The role of waste workers (WWs) in the waste management of the Kathmandu Valley cannot be undermined. It is estimated that around 10,000 to 15,000 waste pickers and 700 to 800 kabadis (scrap dealers/owners) are engaged as PWWs and secondary waste workers (SWWs), respectively, in the Kathmandu Valley (PRISM, 2014). A study on informal waste management suggests that it is only by understanding, acknowledging, and incorporating informal waste workers into new ways of delivering improved services that sustainable solutions may be found with regards to increasing levels of resource recovery and a more safe and sound livelihood (Nas and Jaffe, 2004; Rouse, 2004; Scheinberg et al., 2006).

Against this backdrop, this study was conducted in the aforementioned five municipalities of the Kathmandu Valley as well as in Okharpauwa of Nuwakot district with the objective to gauge the present socio-economic conditions of the PWWs in order to better understand their underlying issues. Furthermore, in order to be able to exploit the opportunities in terms of recycling waste PET bottles, a thorough market analysis of market supply, market size of the waste PET bottles and pricing policies, etc. was conducted. The study has used both quantitative and qualitative information. Respondents were identified and selected using snowball and convenience sampling techniques. Qualitative information was collected through both person-specific and group-focused interactions by using rapid assessment techniques such as focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs), and case studies.

The major findings of the study are as follows:

• There are a total of 15,539 PWWs in the Kathmandu Valley. From the 151 locations inside the Kathmandu Valley that were visited for the purpose of this study, it was found that there were a total of 15,539 individuals working as PWWs inside the five municipalities of the Kathmandu Valley, and Okharpauwa, Nuwakot.  

http://www.himalayanclimate.org/images/projectMultipleSubPage/GaHteA%20Study%20%20on%20Waste%20PET%20Botlles%20-%20internal%20doc1.pdf

Adaptation of Micro-Irrigation in Nepal

Small Scale Water Storage Systems: Appropriate means of improving Agricultural Livelihood in the Hills of Nepal

Deepak Lochan Adhikari, Technical Advisor, Development Inn Pvt. Ltd., Kathmandu, Nepal

E-mail: deepaklochan@yahoo.com

Chiranjibi Rijal

Managing Director, Development Inn Pvt. Ltd, Kathmandu, Nepal

E-mail: csrijal@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Agriculture is the backbone for sustaining rural livelihoods in Nepal. Such an important sector is predominantly based on natural rainfall. Although Nepal is blessed with abundant rainfall on annual basis, most of it occurs during four monsoon months leaving other months almost dry. The hill and mountain slopes are the most water scarce areas. Climate change effects have further aggravated the reliability of rainfall as seen from past years.Poorest have been the hardest hit due to their low adaptive capacity. To cope with the seasonal water scarcity local community have built varieties of water storage structures since historical times. Over years improved modern structures have also been adopted by them with or without agency support. These water storage systems have made significant improvement in the agricultural livelihoods of the rural hill community through easier access to water for micro-irrigation to grow high value crops, livestock watering and domestic water needs. Especially, small water tanks at household level such as modified thai-jars have profound positive effect among rural women who take the prime role to manage water for multiple uses. This paper presents a description of various types of water tank technologies being used by the hill communities of Nepal. Some international experiences have also been cited. Basic impacts of the tank users in their livelihoods are presented. Constraints and opportunities at local and national levels for tank dissemination are identified. On the basis of findings some recommendations are proposed for future course of actions including policy issues. Year-round irrigation is available, farmers grow irrigated crops – wheat, potatoes and vegetables in winter; and spring paddy, mungbean and irrigated maize in spring. Crop production in the dry season has been made possible largely by irrigation, though rainfed winter cropping is feasible in areas of high rainfall (in central and eastern regions) and also through using residual soil moisture following the wet season rice crop. The methodologies used were review of secondary information, field observation, and interviews. Finally potential for its expansion is projected and institutional implementation framework is recommended. 

Keywords: micro-irrigation, thai-jars, Multiple Use Water System(MUS), high value crops, livelihoods 

http://assets.helvetas.org/downloads/national_seminar_report.pdf 

Experts View

Economic Importance of Non Timber Forest Products:Potential for Sustainable Livelihoods - In the Hill of Nepal

Chiranjibi Rijal and Dipesh Pyakurel

PP-10 : Article is available:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cy38275ldh2dlw2/Experts%20View%20MEX-Yearbook-2014.pdf?dl=0

Aggregation of An Agriculturist: Share of Agriculture GDP in Nepal, 2013/14

Aggregation of An Agriculturist: Share of Agriculture GDP in Nepal, 2013/14: The latest publication of National Account by Center Bureau of Statistics shows the GDP share by Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing is 33.0...

Mr. Ganesh Dhakal: Value Chain Analysis of Allo Subsector in Myagdi ...

Mr. Ganesh Dhakal: Value Chain Analysis of Allo Subsector in Myagdi ...: Abstract  The study was carried out by SANGAM with financial support of Li-Bird under  Multi   Stakeholder Forest  Program. The main...

A report on Mid-term Evaluation of Strømme Foundation Project Nepal

Chiranjibi Rijal (Team Leader), Sanjaya Mallik (SWC), Gaja Bahadur Rana (MoWCSW) and Shailendra Uprety (CA)
January 2013

http://www.norad.no/om-bistand/publikasjon/ngo-evaluations/2014/a-report-on-mid-term-evaluation-of-stromme-foundation-project-nepal/

Project Description and Background to Evaluation: 

Stromme Foundation (SF) Nepal together with its partner organizations is implementing SF project in four districts (Rupandehi, Rautahat, Makawanpur and Surkhet). The project aim to improve social and economic status of 8,400 economically and socially excluded families through active participation in civil society collective efforts. SF uses the approach of “Help for Self help" to combat poverty in the region. The main strategy is to empower individuals, households and communities and thereby reduce vulnerability and increase the capacity, to organize and work as a force. This report is the summary of the mid-term evaluation in order to assess level of progress made by the project. The evaluation process was spread over a period of one month beginning 25 November to 25 December 2013. The evaluation included the activities of the project until the period of November 2013.

ASSESSMENT OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN AREAS ELECTRIFIED BY RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES AND FEASIBILITY STUDY OF ENERGY INTERVENTION IN LOKTA HANDMADE PAPER PRODUCT

The study was conducted in six districts, namely, Baglung, Myagdi, Jajarkot, Bajhang, Rolpa and Bajura of Nepal, and has covered the catchment area of 26 MHPs, where there is a high potential of establishing MSMEs based on natural resources such as Lokta, Allo and Chiuri. The study was carried out with several consultative meetings in Kathmandu as well as in the respective districts, followed by focus group discussion held in all the selected sites leading to data collection. The main outcomes of the study included the preparation of load profile of all the proposed MHPs showing the time of operation of each MHP including the demand and supply load and the potential enterprises that could arise in the vicinity of all MHPs.Lokta processing, allo and bhangro processing, noodle industry, soap factories, mills, poultry farming, poultry feeder, spices industry, tailoring, expeller, saw mill, grill udhyog, bakery, chiura udhyog, photo studio, rui fitne, photocopy and computer, incense factory, high vision hall, printing press, nettle (sisnu) powder, potato powder, gooseberry (aamla) juice factory, wool processing and knitting, electronics repair shop, ornamental stones cutting and processing, crusher, tea shop and hotel, cement block, slate stone making, dry apple chips and jam industry, and thresher are the list of potential enterprises that could arise in the vicinity of the selected MHPs. 

http://www.aepc.gov.np/docs/resource/subreport/20140123032254_ASSESSMENT%20OF%20BUSINESS%20OPPORTUNITIES%20IN%20AREAS%20ELECTRIFIED%20BY%20RENEWABLE%20ENERGY%20TECHNOLOGIES%20AND%20FEASIBILITY%20STUDY%20OF%20ENERGY%20INTERVENTION%20IN%20LOKTA%20HANDMADE.pdf

Study Team:

1 Er. Deepak Lochan Adhikari, Team Leader

2 Mr. Chiranjibi Rijal, GESI Expert

3 Er. Salony Rajbhandari, Renewable Energy Technology Expert

4 Mr.Ganesh Kumar Dhakal, Business Development Specialist

5 Er. Ashish Ghimire, Project Coordinator