Sustainable Living in Schools: A Study of Vajra Academy, Lalitpur

2023

Int J Occup Saf Health

Introduction: About 56% of total population of Nepal have been fully immunized against COVID. But still foreign nationals and Informal Waste Workers (IWWs) outside of Nepal are struggling to get COVID vaccines. This study was intended to study the COVID-19 symptoms among IWWs of Kathmandu and the usage of vaccines by them. Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted among 107 IWWs of Kathmandu Valley from Balku, Sanepa, Kalimati and Teku areas. A convenience sampling method was used to find the respondents based on their willingness to participate in the study. Face-to-face interview was conducted using structured questionnaire to collect data from IWWs. Results: A total of 53.3% males and 46.7% females participated in this study. Despite of majority of waste workers facing COVID related symptoms, only 19.6% of waste workers had done COVID test. Around 77.6% of waste workers hadn’t still taken COVID vaccine with majority (93.9 %) of them belonging to India. Conclusion: The majority of IWWs of Kathmandu are afraid to take COVID vaccine. Despite of having COVID related symptoms, IWWs haven’t gone for COVID test. Though interested, the IWWs needs identity cards for vaccination which counts less number of waste workers being vaccinated.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 related symptoms and vaccination usage among informal waste workers of Kathmandu, Nepal

2023

Int J Occup Saf Health

“…Researchers agree that the main reasons for widely usage of plastic bags are its durability, low weight, low cost and easy to carry [37] [38] [39]. It is necessary that a product to be designed in such a way that it causes zero to least environmental impacts [40]. There are several benefits of recycling which includes protecting the environment, cut down the transport and reducing the amount of waste reaching to the landfill site [14] [41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survey on usage of single use plastic bags in Nepal

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

2022

Self Cite

The rapid urbanization and economic growth have caused increase of plastic products globally. The least developed countries (LDCs) have been facing severe problems with solid waste due to lack of people’s awareness, lack of skilled manpower to handle waste and necessary equipment to manage in sustainable manner. Nepal, a LDC in South Asia, lacks source segregation leading the maximum plastic items reaching to the landfill site. It is even difficult for the planning authorities to make effective plans for sustainable management of plastic waste due to lack of waste generation data. Nepal has made many rules and directives to ban plastic bags till date but has failed in its implementation. This study is the first of its kind to capture the perception of youths towards single use bags in Nepal. This study was conducted among 569 Nepalese youths of age between 18-40 years. A closed ended self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the respondents and responses were collected for three weeks. The questionnaire was prepared using google form and distributed via Facebook. A snowball method was used where the respondents were asked to share the questionnaire in their network. It was found that majority of Nepalese youths have been practicing the source segregation at their houses. The use of single use plastic is very common in Nepal with an individual using at least 208 plastic bags in a year. The gender and source segregation of waste was statistically significant with p-value of 0.02 (<0.05). The main reason of using plastic bags was its easy availability. There is lack of alterative to the plastic bags in Nepal. However, the youths are ready to support the government plastic ban policy and have asked the alternatives to the plastic bags. The result has shown that the Nepalese people have negative perception towards single use plastics and are in search of alternatives. The government need to implement heavy penalty for producing plastic bags greater than 30 micron and deploy tax with shop keepers and customer if found using it.

The Practices of At-Source Segregation of Household Solid Waste by the Youths in Nepal

Journal of Environmental and Public Health

Giri²,

Mainali³

2023

Self Cite

Source segregation, the first important step for effective solid waste management, is practised by a handful of organizations in limited areas in Nepal. The inadequacy of source segregation and ineffective collection system in Nepal have led to maximum waste reaching the landfill site. Though several researchers have studied the role of stakeholders and the importance of youths in the waste management sector, there is a paucity of studies on the role of youths, particularly in waste segregation in Nepal. In this regard, this study was conducted to understand the at-source household waste segregation practices by youths in Nepal. The study adopted the snowball sampling technique. A structured survey questionnaire which included information on the sociodemographic status of the respondents, placement of bins, segregation practices, and satisfaction with the waste collection provider was used to elicit information from 522 youths. It was found that almost half (49.2%) of the respondents had installed two dustbins in their kitchen with 80.3% of respondents claiming to practice source segregation in their houses. The majority (75.1%) of participants were ready to pay more for improved solid waste management in their area. Also, 75.8% of respondents declared that everyone is responsible for solid waste management with fewer than 14.8% and 9.4%, stating that waste management should be the responsibility of the government and waste management service provider, respectively. The gender and source segregation was statistically significant with a p value of 0.007 (<0.05). However, the likelihood ratio significance showed no association between the level of education and the practice of source segregation. Hence, the source segregation practice of household solid waste was found to be satisfactory among the youths of Nepal. Thus, there should be a proper monitoring mechanism to ensure that household waste gets collected in a segregated form causing less burden on landfills.