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

(Phuntsho et al. 2010). Surveys of the country’s urban areas found that households generated between 0.6 kg and 1.2 kg of solid waste per day, with an average of 0.96 kg per household per day and 0.25 kg per person (Phuntsho et al. 2010). A 2018 study found that municipal solid waste in Thimphu had increased to 0.35 kg per person per day (World Wildlife Fund [WWF] Bhutan 2018). According to more recent data from Thimphu Thromde, 58.2 per cent of the municipal solid waste in Thimphu is organic. Other major categories include paper and cardboard (9.2 per cent), plastics (13 per cent), glass (2.2 per cent), textiles (7 per cent), leather and rubber (4.3 per cent), wood (2.1 per cent), disposable diapers (3.7 per cent), metals (0.2 per cent), and e-waste (0.2 per cent) (Thimphu Thromde 2018). Statistics on other kinds of municipal solid waste are hard to locate, as municipal solid waste refers to all household waste in Bhutan. Office e-waste and medical waste are not included in this category because they are considered insignificant. Construction waste is also not counted. The current population of Thimphu Thromde is around 115,000 people, a figure which is increasing as a result of the in-migration from rural areas (NSB 2018). The floating population, however, is quite high and variable – seasonal workers and tourists can raise the city’s total to 150,000. InBhutan, citizens canonlyvotewhere theyare registered, yet many individuals moving to urban areas, in particular Thimphu, do not officially register there. Some people have lived in Thimphu for over 20 years or are second- generation citizens, but still vote in their former villages. Only around 9,000 inhabitants in Thimphu are registered, which means that less than 10 per cent of the city’s population votes in local elections. Thimphu’s population therefore has little influence on decision-making, despite all being users of public services, such as water supply, waste collection and transportation. The Environment Division of Thimphu Thromde is responsible for managing and monitoring waste in Thimphu. This department receives between 18 per cent and 25 per cent of the homeowner’s tax, which produces an annual budget of about US$ 272,000. Thimphu Thromde employs around 100 people in waste services, most of whom are street sweepers. Although Thimphu Thromde has a few trucks, it outsources waste collection and transportation to two private companies, which costs around 87 per cent of the municipality’s total budget. In recent years, waste collection has greatly improved in Thimphu.

partnerships for waste management initiatives. These subcontractors receive the status of social entrepreneurs and are given better loans and benefits than private companies. Their task is to collect and segregatewaste in Thimphu. Although these companies should not generate profits, they are permitted to sell valuables to buyers both inside the country and in India. Ideally, segregation should happen at transfer stations. Greener Way, a private waste management company, has recently established such a station. The leftovers or non-valuable material is transported to the city’s landfill, where pickers recover anything else that is recyclable. At the time of researching, operations at the transfer station were only partly in place, with Greener Way sending their own waste pickers to the landfill two to three times a week. One major positive aspect of waste collection in Thimphu is that wet and dry waste are segregated at the household level and collected separately. Some of the organic waste is taken to a compost pit, which has a noticeable effect on the landfill. There are plans for large-scale composting of organic waste from hotels and markets, and the Thimphu Thromde Office is educating people on how to compost at home. Some paper, glass and plastic recycling occurs inside the country, for example, some glass bottles are reused, while some plastics are used for road construction. However, most other valuable scrap is sold to India through scrap dealers or private companies. Glass cannot be sent to India and there are no provisions for hazardous waste, so these usually end up at the landfill with other non-valuable waste. As of recently, construction waste is now sent to specific landfill sites, though unfortunately there are also many dumpsites for this waste. Medical waste should be treated in dedicated areas, yet some also ends up at the landfill. Household e-waste is still low, as people tend to still be using their first refrigerator, TV or computer, which are generally repaired and/or sold when they break down. Scrap dealers mainly sell their e-waste in India. E-waste from government offices is normally stored and auctioned, but there seems to be no control over where the waste goes; if scrap dealers buy it, they may opt to sell it in India. An incomplete inventory from the landfill operator suggests that between 24 and 30 truck deliveries occur per day. According to Thimphu Thromde, about 58 per cent of the waste is dry and 42 per cent is wet. The Thimphu landfill at Memelakha has long exceeded its capacity and is facing problems with leaching and waste management.

Bhutan

The Government considers waste a societal problem and therefore provides incentives to public–private

The waste management system does not have enough collection trucks and the ones that are available are old,

60 Gender and waste nexus