Waste: With completion of waste management awareness programmes in 12 gewogs, Tsirang Dzongkhag Tshogdu have started plans to achieve long-term target of zero-waste by 2030.

Towards fulfilling the target, the dzongkhag has initiated numerous activities. One such activity is completion of two rounds of awareness campaign in all the gewogs. In chiwogs the gewogs will replicate the awareness programmes.

Dzongkhag environment officer, Langa Dorji, said the initiative was started after mounting  waste problems in the rural areas. Non-degradable waste was becoming unmanageable in villages without a designated disposal pits.

“Now people are becoming cautious, but it still needs lot of work to achieve the target,” Langa Dorji said.

He said that all the gewogs now have developed waste management plans to tackle waste within their gewogs and chiwogs. Dzongkhag has also developed waste collection centres in four gewogs. Eight more collection centres are being constructed.

At household level, villagers are encouraged to develop waste disposal pits.

The dzongkhag has recently purchased a garbage truck to collect waste from the 12 collection centres  and to transport to the municipal landfill, .

After analysing waste collection methods, transporting waste to the municipal landfill from the gewogs was found to be more viable to having numerous landfills in the villages.

Langa Dorji said building number of landfills in the villages would require employing labour to manage besides being expensive to construct one.

Nirmala Pokhrel | Tsirang