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A film on Wealth from Waste by Bal Krishna Sharma

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These are some glimpses of Thamel and Durbar Marg, the major tourist hubs in Kathmandu and their vicinity. Rapid urbanization, growing population, and lack of appropriate technologies for solid waste management have been posing serious threats in big cities of Nepal.

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A bad culture has been taking place in Nepali urban life regarding the management of household waste. They feel their responsibility is over once they throw the household waste on the road. This sort of tradition is nothing but an invitation to various fatal diseases and plague. It has also been degrading [the] environment and income due to the lack of knowledge and ideas in transforming "waste into wealth." As lotus that blossoms in sunlight, shadows, mud, laborious hands ready to turn waste into wealth are emerging. Tulasa Gyawali, from Bharatpur Municipality-10, is one such example. She is a woman with innovative ideas and positive thinking.

TULASA GYAWALI

I dump kitchen waste into compost bin and plastic to make flower vase. Kitchen waste changes into manure after about two months.

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Tulasa used to dump her household garbage into the garbage pickup trolley from the municipality. The trolley unloaded such garbage at the center of Bharatpur city. That made the market place smelly and dirty. On her way to the market one day, she saw this awful sight. Then she started wondering if the household garbage could be managed at its origin.

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She then started managing the solid waste from her household. She dumped degradable, reusable, and non-degradable wastes into three different buckets. She used the degradable waste for vermicomposting. The product is used as manure in her garden. Now, she has grown plenty of vegetables in her kitchen garden and roof of her house. She has also made a very beautiful garden using the same organic compost. She started creating sandals and bags out of milk, noodles, and biscuit packets. A model of Taj Mahal, by using empty bottles of polio vaccine, is one of the finest examples of her creation. Her additional income comes from selling reusable goods like iron and paper.

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Unlike common plight of Nepalese women, Tulasa no more depends on her husband for small amounts of money. This has given her dignity and pride. She is encouraged and has been developing her leadership capacity. Tulasa's work is a very good example of managing challenges of poverty, unemployment, and household waste. She turned our social threat into an opportunity. She created double opportunities of employment and income by creatively tackling the challenge.

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Tulasa now has proved herself a leader in the household solid waste management. She sticks to her slogan: "usages of household solid waste in urban agriculture system," and has now proven to be a leader in household solid waste management. According to the center for solid waste management program, 85 percent of total solid waste can be reduced if household waste can be managed at its origin. Tulasa says that management of household waste at home can be profitable, reliable, and sustainable method of solid waste management.

TULASA GYAWALI

Kitchen waste is clean but we are not. It changes into garbage only if you throw it outside your house in the environment.

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As Tulasa did, we can also generate biogas, organic manure, and reusable items from our household solid waste. Isn't it the need of current times?

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