Gender and Waste Nexus: Experiences from Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal

partly as a result of gender-associated normative roles not being fulfilled, it can be assumed that the violence is present in both domestic and professional waste sector operations. The gendered landscape of waste management in Kathmandu The waste sector includes different stakeholder groups, which are all equally important to sound waste management. Figure 12 shows the relative domains of the primary authority of men and women with respect to the flow of waste in Kathmandu.

management and they do not feel part of the waste management system. In Nepal, women have traditional domestic roles and responsibilities and largely carry out household and community waste activities. Women also perform most unpaid household labour as part of their domestic role. National surveys show that the number of female-headed households is growing, often as a result of male outmigration. In addition, women head more households in urban environments than in rural areas, where waste generation is lower (Nepal and UNDP 2016). These findings, together with the observations of the field investigation, confirm that women overall hold more responsibility for waste management at home, especially since it often ties in with their other domestic responsibilities. For example, women usually bear the primary responsibility for cooking, therefore making them the principal managers of organic food waste. Some households compost their organic waste, though the scale of this practice is difficult to estimate.

Nepal

Households and communities

Households and communities are principal stakeholders in solid waste management and their participation is of vital importance if Nepal is to meet its waste reduction targets. Despite this, households in Kathmandu are rarely given formal recognition in terms of waste

GENDER MAP OF WASTE MANAGEMENT IN KATHMANDU

FROM HOUSEHOLDS

56%

44%

FROM INSTITUTIONS COMMERCE ETC.

TOTAL WASTE GENERATED

MALE MAJORITY

FEMALE MAJORITY

HOUSEHOLD WASTE MANAGERS

RUBBER & LEATHER

STREET SWEEPERS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS

HOUSEHOLD WASTE COMPOSITION

COMPOSTING AT HOME

TEXTILES

PLASTICS

PUBLIC SPACE

2/3 of HOUSEHOLDS SEGREGATE FOOD RESIDUES

%

ORGANIC WASTE

GLASS PAPER PRODUCT METALS

STREET PICKERS

OTHERS

TRASH

SCRAP WASTE COLLECTORS

HOUSEHOLDS

SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF MINORS

FORMAL WASTE COLLECTION (PUBLIC & PRIVATE COMPANIES) INFORMAL WASTE COLLECTION

WASTE COLLECTION

TRUCK DRIVERS

TRAINING

SUBSIDIES

TRAINING & ASSISTANCE

SCRAP WASTE DEALERS

KATHMANDU MUNICIPALITY

WASTE SEGREGATION WORKERS MANAGERS OF TRANSFER STATIONS

WASTE MANAGEMENT COMPANIES

WASTE PICKERS

NGOs

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS and PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS

Sources: GRID-Arendal; Asian Development Bank (2013), Solid Waste Management in Nepal; Poverty Action (2014), PRISM: Changing the lives of informal waste workers.

TRAINING

CRAFTS FROM WASTE

INFORMAL SECTOR

SISDOLE LANDFILL

TRAINING & ASSISTANCE

Figure 12

47 Gender and waste nexus