Leachate analysis is a vital aspect of landfill operation & management, but limited studies have been conducted in Nepal in this regard. The study focuses on the chemical assessment of leachate’s characteristics of 4 different landfill sites in Nepal in the year 2019 among which 3 are operational and 1 closed, and their variation due to age, functionality, seasons, and feeding amount and waste composition. The data of leachate samples at two months’ interval was collected and assembled into 4 seasons viz. pre-monsoon (Mar-May), monsoon (June-Aug.), post-monsoon (Sep-Nov), and winter seasons (Dec-Feb.) of Nepal using Principal Component Analysis. One-way ANOVA tool is used to analyze data acquired from laboratory. Gradual increase of pH from pre-monsoon to winter seasons and as per age was observed. Amongst metals and heavy metals, the concentration of Fe descended from pre-monsoon to winter. Other metals like Ni, Pb, and Zn were detected in functional, and intermediate aged landfills. For old LFS, the concentrations of Fe, Cu, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, Cd, and Zn were lower. H2S and NH3 were high in intermediate than in mature site without seasonal variation. The chemical assessment generates useful data to construct treatment plants.

The increasing quantity of solid waste is one of the serious environmental problems in Sagarmatha National Park trekking route. Tourists, trekkers and mountaineers litter the route with plastics, cans, bottles, papers etc. on trails. The lodges, hotels and restaurants also do not have better solutions. The trekking routes from Lukla to Everest Base Camp are littered by more than 30,000 visitors coming to the region within a year. The main reason is due to the concentration of the studies of solid waste mainly in urban areas, lack of environmental awareness and public as well as local participation, lack of understanding of the complex mountain ecosystem and negligence of long term impact to tourism industry.´There have been various initiatives and researches carried out by Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), Ev-K2-CNR and various other agencies including NGOs despite which the situation still remains to be resolved and demand further improvement. This paper describes the observations study on SWM carried out during the trekking by Nepalese and Swedish researchers in April 2010 and recommendations drawn out from the study. The issues raised and the problems identified during the study would need to be properly addressed, which would be instrumental in finding way forward and augment the planning of the daunting tasks of Solid Waste Management in the region.

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More than eight million tons of solid waste is produced per day in developing countries.While Europe and industrialized countries go for high-tech solutions (e.g. modernincineration technologies), there is still a huge demand for proper landfilling in developingcountries. This paper presents the outcome of the research on the water management oflandfill in Nepal using a pilot scale lysimeter. The related leachate production as an effect ofclimatological factors is assessed. The Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance(HELP) model has been used to compute estimates of water balances. The local weather data(evapotranspiration data and daily values of rainfall, temperature and solar radiation),vegetative growth were prepared as required and variable soil and waste data (porosity, fieldcapacity, wilting point, initial moisture content and saturated hydraulic conductivity of layersand materials) have been determined.With the simulation carried out, it indicates that the evapotranspiration (ET) is nearlyconstant, but not high. This may be due to the small area of lysimeter and higher portion hasbeen percolated before evaporation could take place. The trend of leachate generation onHELP simulation seems to be similar in October to December season, but in June toSeptember, the trend shows higher percolation rate compared to the model. The annual datashows that percolation is about 81-84% of rainfall amount whereas evapotranspiration isabout 15-19%. The daily production rate of percolation is about 3.47 L/m2/day. Withinhighest rainfall days during 2000 to 2004 (88 L/m2/day), average percolation is about 5.78L/m2/day (6.5% of the rainfall).The application of the model in the developing country like Nepal has raised issue like effecton water balance by the large variation of short-tenn rainfall, which might have greater inputinto percolation.

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