Waste to Energy Feasibility Study Report of Ilam Municipality

2.5 Waste management sector

Ilam municipality is situated in Ilam district with an area of 172.69 km2 comprising of l2 Wards.
According to population census 2011, the total population of PMC including newly added
wards is 48,536 with 3.86% population growth rate. Average Ilam municipality waste
generation (household waste, commercial waste and institutional waste) is found to be 0.31
kg/capita/day. Waste collection service is being provided by the municipality as well as from
the international agency switch Asia. The agency is also launching information and awareness
activities in their collection areas.

In Ilam, Systematic waste separation is followed somehow in urban areas with separate
collection bin in each house but there is no systematic source separation at household level has
taken place except in rural wards where only the in-organic fraction is collected and the organic
fraction is used locally. A small composting facility funded by Switch Asia was established
near zero KM in Ilam, but the facility has never been sufficient for the all the collected organic
waste. The municipality has given responsibility to a Private Sector for waste segregation within
the dumping site under annual contract basis. The municipality is in search of appropriate site
for waste segregation and for biogas plant inside municipality. Ilam municipality has ambitious
waste recovery target; organic waste recovery to reach 40% in 2018 excluding the 7 new VDCs
and recycling to reach 40% in 2018 excluding the 7 new VDCs.

2.5.1 Ilam Dumping Site

Ilam dumping Site was separated in kalde inside municipality. The current feeding rate to LFS
is 7 Ton/day. Glass, clothes, plastics, rubber, paper, leather and textile were relatively higher in
composition at Ilam dumping site. This may be due to the fact that larger number of tourists at
the city consuming more packed foods and the living standard of the people in Ilam is also high
than that of the other area. Below figure shows the map of damping site in Ilam municipality.

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Figure 4: Land Fill Site Map of Ilam Municipality

Organic, plastic and paper content of the waste are higher at all the dumping. There is not any
treatment mechanism for such waste.

Total and per Capita MSW generation

Total MSW Generation/day in Ilam municipality was calculated by Per Capita Generation.
Result showed that Per Capita generation across the municipality is varied from 0.15
Kg/capita. Day to 0.44 Kg/capacity day. Average Per Capita MSW Generation per day in
Ilam Municipality is assumed 0.31 Kg/capacity day. Especially in agricultural area and
commercial area generation is higher and in rest of other area it is relatively lesser. Besides,
generation rate is relatively lesser in rental residential areas or migrant dominated areas and
greater in local old bazaar areas. With the projected population, of Ilam Municipality for
2030 (76462), Total MSW generation rate per day calculated as 31 Ton in Ilam Municipality.

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Composition Distribution of MSW

Waste composition and characterization in different wards of Ilam Municipality, showed that
the major component of the waste is organic / composting waste (composed of Foods, leaves,
dust as major components). Recycle waste is composed of Metals, plastics and bottles as
major components and bulbs, broken bottles and textiles are the major components of land
filling waste. Composition of MSW composed of Composting and Dumping wastes 6% and
94% respectively.

Collection and Management of MSW at present

Total Municipal solid waste generation collected at dumping site is observed to be 7 Tons/day
but this varies according to the season from 3-7Tons/day out of which 55% is organic and
45% is inorganic. Nowadays portion of total generation waste is being used for house hold
composting for vertical gardening and most of the hotels, restaurant and vegetable market
waste for pig feeding. Recently the new wards are added to the metropolitan city and hence
all the waste from the newly wards are not collected properly till now.

As per our field observations we found that around 400kg of organic waste only is collected
by a separate container and bought to the composting plant site, rest of the collected waste
are disposed at the damping site without any separation or segregations.

2.5.2 Sources of solid waste

Solid waste being collected in Ilam Municipality is classified into different types depending on
their source described in the Table 6 as:

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Table 6: Types/Sources of solid waste with constituents

S.N. Types/Sources Constituents

1. Municipal waste (Residential Food waste, paper, textile, plastic, rubber, yard waste,
and commercial wastes) glass, tin cans, farms waste, demolition waste, road
sweeping, etc.

2. Institutions (School, college, Paper, packaging materials, also containing

Government and hazardous waste (like metals, inks)
Private institutions etc)

3. Hazardous Highly heterogeneous in nature and industry specific

waste*(Industrial waste) generally hazardous waste.

4. Health care waste Health care institutions, research

facilities, laboratories, clinics, etc

During this study of waste collection and potential study, wastes have been categorized into the
following groups:

i. Residential sector
ii. Institutional professional centers
iii. Industrial profession and the industries
iv. Construction areas and profession
v. Farming and agricultural professions
vi. Commercial professions
vii. Hotels, Restaurants and Lodges
viii. Vehicles and transportation professions
ix. Health related institutions
x. Roadways and sewerage canals
xi. Other forest resources-based professions
The major waste generators in Ilam municipality are household, business entities, vegetable
markets, slaughter houses, administrative buildings, Schools and hostels, hospitals and clinics,
hotels and restaurants.

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Waste Collection System (Current Trend)

The operational mechanism of the present municipal waste collection method is presented by
figure below:

Figure 6: waste collection mechanism in Ilam municipality

Waste Collection Route and System

Main Street sweeping is being conducted daily and household waste is being collected on
“Door to Door” collection system. By making routine, waste is collected from collection centre
which is operated by private sector within the monitoring of Municipality. Official route has
been formulated by the municipality and collecting vehicles so far follow that predefined route.

Waste Collection Frequency

Waste collection frequency is relative to different factors; quantity of waste generation,

importance of the area, population density of the area.

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Status of Vehicles
The waste collecting vehicles are of two different colours in Ilam municipality. Tractor of red
colour is used only for collecting organic waste other tractors of yellow and green colour are
used to collect all types of waste. Some of these tractors are provided by switch Asia and rest
are bought by municipality by its own or in rent. As the area of the municipality has increased
than previous the no. of vehicles is also not sufficient to meet the current requirement as well.
Total 3 numbers of tractors are found in operation among them one is of red and other two are
of yellow and green colour.

Distance to be covered

Distance to be covered by waste collecting vehicles is varying. Up to the time of our latest field
visit waste collection mechanism is only based upon the urban areas. The areas for the collection
of waste and dumping site is not far than 6KM.

Most of the Nepalese towns lack adequate capacity to transport it and there are no sanitary
dumpings to dispose of the waste. The existing dumpings are neither well equipped nor well
managed these are not lined properly to protect against contamination of soil and groundwater.
Over the last few years, the consumer market has grown rapidly leading to products being
packed in cans, aluminium foils, plastics, and other such non-biodegradable items that cause
incalculable harm to the environment. Certain biodegradable items can also be composted and
reused. In fact, proper handling of the biodegradable waste will considerably lessen the burden
of solid waste that each city has to tackle. There are different categories of waste generated,
each take their own time to degenerate (as illustrated in the table below).

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Table 10: Type of litter generates and the approximate time it takes to
degenerate
Type of litter Approximate time it takes to degenerate the
litter

A week or two.
Organic waste such as vegetable
and fruit peels, leftover foodstuff,
etc.
Paper
10–30 days

Cotton cloth
2–5 months

Wood
10–15 years

Woollen items
1 year

Tin, aluminium, and other metal 100–500 years

items such as cans

Plastic bags
One million years?

Glass bottles
Undetermined

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Table 11: Sources and Types of Municipal Solid Waste

Sources Typical waste generators Types of solid waste

Residential Single and multifamily Food wastes, paper, cardboard,

dwellings plastics, textiles, glass, metals,
ashes, special wastes (bulky
items, consumer electronics,
batteries, oil, tires) and household
hazardous wastes
Commercial Stores, hotels, restaurants, Paper, cardboard, plastics, wood,
markets, office buildings food wastes, glass, metals, special
wastes, hazardous wastes
Institutional Schools, government Paper, cardboard, plastics, wood,
center, hospitals, prisons food wastes, glass, metals, special
wastes, hazardous wastes
Municipal services Street cleaning, Street sweepings, landscape and
landscaping, parks, tree trimmings, general wastes
recreational areas from parks and other recreational
areas

The most fundamental step in waste management is quantifying and qualifying the different
types of waste being generated. It is important to have a system for the collection and analysis
of basic information about wastes. Among the data needed are: the sources of wastes, the
quantities of waste generated, their composition and characteristics, the seasonal variations and
future trends of generation. Such information could form the basis for the development of
appropriate waste management strategies. In fact, data collection and management should be
an on-going exercise for monitoring purposes and to enable future and long-term planning and
decision-making.

Manmade structures, improper land use, human caused waste and some manmade parameters
are challenging the natural beauty globally. Among all, most of the developing countries are
facing the problem of solid waste management. Nepal is not the exception. However, Ilam is
fortunate to Composting plant for the utilization of organic waste. To preserve the general
hygiene of natural beauty of Ilam somehow this composting plant is playing a crucial role. It
does not mean it is perfect and no more upgradation is required. Ilam is running across the rapid
migration and the living style, patterns and standard are changing drastically day by day. Hence,
the quantity, compositions and patterns of MSW are also varying day by day. If we compare it
with some of the baseline records before, it will be hard to forecast as everything is happening

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and changing so rapidly and the changing graph is no linear. Therefore, for current management
and future planning, recent reliable statistical records are necessary.

2.5.3 Institutional survey

Ilam Municipality office, composting plant’s office, Hospital and Various Gov/Non-Gov.
offices were selected and interviewed during the field visit for the data related with waste
generation within 24 hours was collection, weight and their composition.

2.5.4 Commercial survey

For Hotel/Restaurant waste generation data most of the renowned hotels with high waste
generation of Ilam was selected and the owner was interviewed on city visit day for the waste
generation data by hotels/restaurant within Ilam and how were they collected, weighted and
their composition analysis separately.

2.5.5 Secondary sources of data

Study of different Reports, Articles, Brochures of municipality, as well as from Central Bureau
of Statistics (CBS) and other relevant published/unpublished document and websites are used
for literature review and access of secondary data.

2.5.6 Observation
In overall, organic waste has its dominancy followed by plastics and papers in composition
scenario. The institutions were found to be aware about the solid waste management techniques
than the households and the commercial areas because most of the was managed in their own
premises through burning which was found to be worsening trend observed inside the
municipality. To understand the validity on the data collected through infield surveyor
involvement and to overview the present waste generation and composition scenario ease to the
reviewer in upcoming days; several visits were made to the waste collection and the final
disposal sites to get the data and exact scenario observed there.

2.6 Existing solid waste management system

In Ilam municipality, office along with switch Asia are responsible for Municipal Solid Waste
Management. There are mainly two types of ways to manage waste in municipality. Certain
percentage of generated or collected organic waste materials are fed to the composting plant
near by the city and the rest of the waste are send to the dumping site.

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The management of solid waste in the Ilam Municipality is normally oriented with piling up the
waste in each and every house where municipality collect waste by small tractor and some
portion of organic waste is fed to the composting plant 500-800 m far from the main city area
and rest of the waste after travelling a short distance of 5-7 km from the core area, finally
deposited to the dumping sitr. The practices done in the main city area could be taken for
consideration for that it is somewhat good i.e. they collect waste every day in morning and
evening shift, but while questioning the scenario of collection of waste in the inner and outskirts
area, routine of waste collection generally comes after 4-5 days which is a worst scenario
observed in Ilam Municipality. For the minimization of waste in the municipality from the
source yet there is no any programme comes in implementation.

2.7 Collection and segregation

The coverage area of municipality for collection mainly concentrated within core area. Besides
these rural wards lying in the outskirts even waits up to 15 to one month for waste collection
by municipality. According to the site visit there are 3 tractors collecting waste twice a day from
a residence to the damping site. Municipality and switch Asia have been funding for the
employee and transporting of waste.

Most of the personals directly involved in waste handling didn’t wear any occupational safety
equipment for the direct contamination and contact to the other body part in the Ilam dumping
site. Some of the workers were using safety practice by wearing equipment like mask, boot,
jacket, gloves but those personnel told that this equipment was provided only once a year with
only Boot and Shovel. The personal directly involved on SW are highly found to be susceptible
with the hazards of sharps cutting, having noxious smelling directly, hand gloves, etc. Till the
date there is no any practice of source segregation facility the municipality implemented in the
field. But also, these practices somehow are applicable in the household level even only in
context for segregating the waste of organic and inorganic matter and perform composting by
serving it to Piled Manure.

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2.8 Final transportation and disposal methods

The waste collected by the municipality vehicles is finally transported to the dumping site near
just few meters from the riverside. There is absence of sanitary dumping or incineration practice
for special waste nor composting or recycling practice without record, etc. The worst scenario
directly visualized is that high organic waste comes out from municipality and disposal of waste
in open dumping site inside the catchment of a river which directly influences the human health
living nearby as well as aquatic Biodiversity.

2.9 Resource recovery methods

Table 12: Recovery methods data
129.38 kg/day
Copy/Paper

834.16 kg/day
Plastic Mix

2.9.1 Recycling

Knowledge on resource recovery at household level is vast difference with the practice level
within the municipality level too. Also, the recycle able wastes collected by the scrap dealers
for their own business purpose and no details on the about such activities within municipality
level. According to municipal authority, there are 2 nos. of scrap dealers (kawadi) within the
municipality. Previously “suiro” was distributed in some households to collect plastic waste but
it has been stopped. According to the municipality source there is a recycle polythene pipe
factory inside the municipality.

Table 13: Inorganic waste generation in different months of year 2072/2073

SN Description Unit Shrawan Bhadra Ashoj Kartik Marga Poush Magh Falgun Chaitra

1 Plastic Mix Kg 23520 26530 18532 15226 21065 16235 21560 16538 22050

2 Doll Mix Kg 19632 21573 16009 14250 18420 16865 19623 18562 21980

3 Water bottle Kg 2750 2980 1986 2108 2456 2256 1563 2152 10620

4 Metal Kg 1359 1168 750 985 1486 963 802 906 1136

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2.9.2 Composting

While giving consideration on the generation scenario of waste inside the municipality organic
constitute 46.6% signifies that composting within the household level is going on increasing.
The reason behind the increase may be due to the inconsistency in the routine of waste collection
from the municipality level. Till the date there is no any composting plant nor there is plan for
the construction of composting plants in near future. Also there is involvement of 5 private
sectors in the composting of waste within the municipality.

Table 14: Manure data of Ilam valley

Manure kg/hd/day

Size Cow Buffalo Pig Goat Sheep Poultry

Large 31860 47460 3384 10594.8 7407 49892

Medium 8832

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Small 745 3922.8 1540.8

Calf 3356 6405 324.8 282.1

Total 35216 53865 12961 14842.4 9229.9 49892

Table 15: Number of animals/poultry

Number of animals/birds

Size Cow Buffalo Pig Goat Sheep Poultry

Large 2124 2373 1692 5886 4115 623650
Medium 5888
Small 745 3269 1284
Calf 839 1281 464 403
Total 2963 3654 8325 9619 5802 623650

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Organic Waste Management

As organic waste occupies the largest portion of municipal waste, composting systems can play
an important role in managing waste as well as creating employment and producing a product
that contributes towards food security in developing countries. Organic solid waste is collected
from households and institutions and composted either at decentralized (community-based) or
centralized composting plants. Pre-treated fecal sludge can be co-

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composted together with the solid. Community-based decentralized composting systems can
generally process about 2 to 50 tons per day and manual composting processes. Centralized
composting facilities are capable of receiving 10 to 200 tons per day. There are two
fundamental types of composting techniques: open or windrow composting (a slower process
conducted outdoors with simple equipment) and the enclosed system composting (where
composting is performed in a building, tank, box, container or vessel). Proper management
of the plant and marketing of the compost are key factors to ensure the sustainability of such
systems. Some positive aspects of composting of organic fraction of MSW are as follows:
1. Reduces common problems with organic wastes, such as smell, leachate, flies
and rodents, and emission of methane.
2. Large-scale composting reduces the amount of waste that needs to be
transported to final disposal sites, thus reducing the cost of solid waste
management.
3. As private scrap dealers generally do not collect organic waste, composting
will help increase the recycling rates.
4. Separate collection of organic waste will increase the recycling of inorganic
waste by keeping the recyclable inorganic waste clean.
5. Production and sale of compost will encourage the use of organic farming and
gardening and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers.
6. Decentralized composting can create employment in community.
7. Income from the sale of compost and service fee from waste generators can
make the waste management system sustainable.
8. Community-based decentralized composting can be an educational site for
local people.
Besides that, some negative aspects of such system can be listed as below.
1. If not done properly, household composting can cause problems such as smell,
leachate, flies and rodents
2. Requires space
3. Large-scale composting requires a professional collection, operation and
maintenance and marketing of the compost
4. Lack of effective marketing of compost can result in financial losses and
closure of the plant
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However, taking lessons from the previous plants and enhancing the positive sides of
such system could cause significant impacts towards the SWM.

General Required Area for Composting

Table 17: General Required Area for Composting
Description Required Area

Sorting area 40 m2

Storage of rejects 30 m2

Storage of recyclables 10 m2

Composting pad 400 m2

Maturation area 150 m2

Screening and bagging area 25m2

Compost storage area 25m2

Total composting area 690m2

Other facilities
Table 18: Other facilities
Office 16 m2

Sanitary facilities 10 m2

Tool shed 10 m2

Water supply point 4 m2

Vehicles parking area 30 m2

Green buffer zone (trees/bushes) 50 m2

Total for other facilities 810 m2

(Source: Design Manual for small scale composting plants version1, 2009)

These composting schemes can be scaled up or down depending on the local

conditions. Since both composting systems are modular, the composting area can
be extended to five tons of waste per day. To protect the workers from difficult and
unhygienic working conditions, this capacity should not be increased beyond that
amount as the system is still based on manual work. If more waste has to be treated,
a higher degree of mechanization (causing higher investment and operational costs)
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will have to be considered. However, higher capacities can less result efficient, as
the decentralized composting sites seldom cover more than 3000 households.

Process of Composting
The process of compost plant operation mainly consists of basic 5 stages. They are:
(1) Waste collected
(2) Separation and segregation of waste
(3) Organic waste to grinder for primary treatment
(4) Storage for certain time
(5) Final treatment and packaging.
Then the MSW changes in to the compost product. In the composting process, after
decompose of waste little amount of liquid like sanitreat and bioculum are mixed
with the waste for decomposing faster. Anyway, in the windrow composting,
moisture content should be maintained properly and hence leachate problem is less.
Next thing is all the residue waste should be managed to the dumping site. For the
purpose, Ilam Municipality has own sanitary dumping side.

In the composting process, first of all after sorting, the waste is mixed into the vacant
baskets and let same for first five days. Then second five days water is sprayed in
the windrow. Similarly, fill alternate windrow continuously. After few days
sanitreat and bioculum are mixed to the baskets. We need to maintain the
appropriate temperature during the composting process but there was not such
automatic temperature maintaining mechanism. After 60 days waste gets mature
compost. After maturation sieving, packing, storing and marketing is done
respectively.

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A flow diagram of the composting process is shown below:

2.9.5 Human resources and capacity

There is one official staff as a section head; where one supervisor, sweepers,
drivers and 12 work helpers under for the management of SW. This number of
personal in the field of SWM is too much less human resource. Similarly, there
are no any environmental officers, engineers for the SWM, technicians for the
effective management of SWM in Ilam Municipality.

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Table 19: Personal for SWM service in municipality and their responsibility

1. Section Head Supervision and Monitoring

2. Supervisor Supervision/Monitoring

3. Sweepers Street sweeping/public space cleaning

4. Helper/workers Collection/ segregation

The details of equipment and facilities on SWM in Ilam Municipality are as follows;
The lists of existing equipment in the section of Community Development Section
for solid waste management are as follows;

Table 20: Equipment with number and capacity in SWM for collection and
transportation

S.N. Equipment Type 3 Number

Capacity (m )

1. Hand-Cart - -

2. Tractor 5.6 3

3. Tipper/Compacter - -

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