Source: Own source
Most of the households segregated the waste when the project was doing the work. But when the work was handed over to the community itself there was a slight difference. According to the community members (having the responsibility to manage the waste) most of the people do not segregate the waste now. Hardly 3/4 buckets of segregated organic waste is collected. She said that this was because now they had to pay 30 rupees per month to get the waste collected. People were reluctant to do that. When asked if the amount was too high she said that it was not but they did not have the habit of paying for the waste. It was easier for them to throw the waste in the river (river flows in front of the community). They did the same before the EDEN project approached them. Another member of the community said that the project had to collect the money, so that they would have the habit of paying for the services. They didn’t do that. It was
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good for the community then but it is creating a problem now. The family manages to make compost but she brings the waste from a catering service nearby which does not come under Buddhajyoti. She expressed that they are also reluctant to do that because now they are about to sell the waste (food) to those who raise pigs in their home (people out of their community. The community people did not raise any pigs). She was taking it for free till then. There is no one to raise pigs in their community. The caterers were planning to sell it to other outsiders. They held the view that working with the waste was not good when it was not segregated. She shared that sometimes people also kept the night excreta and sanitary pads in the waste and it was very difficult for them to work with waste in such conditions. She said that it was very insensitiveness of the people to do that. It does not mean that you are allowed to or you can do anything if you are not doing that work.
Now they have to pay about 1500 rupees per month (whole community/75 households) to get their inorganic waste collected. She says that it is very difficult to collect the amount from the community members. If all the households would pay the money it would be more than enough.
The EDEN managers and the community members decided to make it 30 rupees because they thought that they could use the extra money for the maintenance of the rickshaw and other purpose. However, this assumption did not hold. The community member (the family in charge) said that entire households in Buddhajyoti do not get the waste collected and do not pay the money either (even if collected they are reluctant to pay). She manages the money by selling the compost and also the plants and sometimes handicrafts. She expressed that it is become difficult to manage the amount during Dashain7 or Tihar8. The waste collectors demand for double amount during these festivals.
7 Longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated with great rejoice by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the globe.
8 Longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated with great rejoice by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the globe.
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Linkage between the community people and the concerned organizations in Buddhajyoti Buddhajyoti and EDEN
Interdependent
Figure 7.1: Buddhajyoti and its concerned organization
Difference in waste management in Buddhajyoti with and without project
Description During Project After EDEN
Unity People not united/not so serious about the work.
Now there is no one to control the community people so managing
71 7.2 EDEN in Chamati
It has not been so long that EDEN started its work in Chamati. It has been almost a year now and only about six months when I visited the area. But the way it has managed the waste is different from Buddhajyoti. It only provides a compost bin to the community members. The members have to pay 400 Rs for the bin. This is the bin that is provided by the municipality. They have to pay less for the bin because another organization named World Vision has been helping the community to purchase the bins. The actual price for the bin in the municipality is Rs 1500. It is said that this is also a subsidized price. The actual price for the bin exceeds 2000 rupees.
The difference between the community participation in Buddhajyoti and Chamati is that here individual people/households are involved in managing their own organic waste. Staff from EDEN gives training regarding compost making. They also assist them if they have any other problems while composting. The members here do not have to depend on other people to collect their waste and make complains if it is not collected. It is all up to them to manage their organic waste. People also faced problems about how to use the compost. People who own land had a wondering why there was people were buying less vegetable in his shop.
According to a staff of Newa Khala and EDEN both the fish boxes are not always provided to them. In fact, that is one of the ways to use the waste. If they wished for more they could buy it by themselves. They only showed how the waste and the compost could be used together. The people here tried to re-use the plastic bags. If not used EDEN was trying to make them collect those things and it had the plans to take it to CRC. They take the waste like the old shoes, glasses to the municipality van which they think cannot be reused.
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Different Organizations in Chamati
Figure 7.2: Chamati and its concerned organization
Community Participation in solid waste management in Chamati in brief Description During Project
Segregation of waste People segregated the waste. They did it in their own so no need of collection
Compost bin The bin is provided by with the help of EDEN and World vision
Unity People united and are cooperative and supportive.
Payment They paid Rs 400 for the bin and small payments for other things like spray bottles (to spray pesticides if their vegetables are attacked by insects), fish box.
Difficulty level Handling the waste has become easier.
Dependency People do not have to depend upon the waste collectors to take their waste.
EDEN
Municipality Newa Khala
Community/Chama CRC ti
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