ITAHARI, Oct 16: Regulatory hurdles have stalled a waste-to-energy plant in Dharan that was built to produce gas and fertilizer from municipal waste, forcing the city to continue dumping 30–40 metric tons of waste daily in a forest along the Seuti River.
The plant, built in Ward 6 with an investment of around Rs 240 million, was designed to process up to 50 metric tons of waste daily and produce 2,000 kilograms of gas. However, it shut down after operating for about three years, leaving the municipality without a facility to process its growing waste.
The company behind the project says it was unable to commercialise the gas because the Transport Management Office in Itahari did not grant permission for vehicles converted to run on gas. The office, meanwhile, says inconsistencies between federal and provincial laws have complicated the approval process.
With the plant out of operation, Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City has returned to its former practice of dumping waste in the forest. The practice has polluted the environment, threatened wildlife and triggered periodic disputes between the municipality and the community forest. During the monsoon, waste dumped along the river is carried downstream to farmland in Wards 6 and 7 of Ramdhuni Municipality, affecting farmers.
Bipul Raj Pandey, founder of Venture Waste to Energy, said the company had installed conversion kits in 25 auto-tempos so they could run on both petrol and gas. The trials were successful, and a gas refilling station was also built in Bhotepul.
However, the company could not sell the gas without approval for the converted vehicles to operate on it, Pandey said. Unable to establish a market for the gas, it was forced to shut down the plant.
Man Bahadur Devkota, chief of the Transport Management Office in Itahari, said discrepancies between federal and provincial laws had created difficulties in approving the vehicle conversions. He said permission should not be a problem if the company completed the required procedures through the Department of Transport Management.
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Pandey said the company was completing the necessary procedures to resume operations and expects to restart the plant within three months, or within six months at the latest.
Investment stranded as waste piles up
The plant was established by Venture Waste to Energy with an investment of around Rs 240 million, including a grant of Rs 70 million from the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre and the World Bank. The company purchased one bigha of land in Panbari for the facility.
Under the agreement, the plant is to be handed over to Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City after 20 years, although the municipality did not invest in its construction. Once commercial gas production begins, the company is required to provide 1 percent of its revenue to the municipality.
The facility's planned output was expected to supply gas to 300–350 auto-tempos. According to Bhesh Raj Ghimire, senior environment officer at the sub-metropolitan city, regular operation of the plant could have saved the municipality around Rs 40 million annually.
Ghimire said Dharan would not have faced its current waste management difficulties had the plant continued operating regularly. With no alternative processing facility available, the municipality has been compelled to keep dumping waste in the forest.
A survey conducted in 2081 BS found that Dharan generates 30–40 metric tons of waste daily. The municipality collects and manages waste from most areas, except the upper hill areas of wards 20 and 4 and settlements west of the Sardu River in Ward 17.
The composition of the waste has also become more difficult to manage. The proportion of plastic has risen from around 10 percent a decade ago to 25 percent now, Ghimire said. Plastic that cannot be recycled or reused through the existing system has become a particular problem.
Discarded glass bottles are another concern. Scrap dealers previously bought used bottles, reducing the amount thrown away, but they no longer purchase them. Ghimire also said some people mix syringes with ordinary waste, creating additional risks for collection workers and others handling the waste.
Waste burning raises environmental risks
In the absence of a functioning processing facility, waste continues to accumulate at the dumping site along the Seuti River. Some of it is covered with soil, while people searching for reusable or valuable materials sometimes set fire to the piles when retrieving items becomes difficult.
Such fires increase the risk of forest fires. Smoke from burning waste spreads close to the ground, affecting people travelling along the Koshi Highway. In some cases, smoke has continued to rise from inside the waste piles for several days after visible flames have gone out. Local residents have complained about the environmental damage.
The problem becomes more severe during the monsoon, when floods carry waste downstream to farmland in Ramdhuni Municipality. Plastic waste and discarded syringes create additional difficulties for farmers.
Ghimire said the municipality also lacked vacant land in the market area to separate biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. Even a small plot for waste segregation would make a significant difference, he said.
Authorities seek land for a long-term solution
Meanwhile, the federal Department of Water Supply and Sewerage Management under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure is preparing a detailed project report (DPR) to address Dharan's waste management problem.
Ghimire said the project had encountered complications because forest land would need to be acquired for waste management. Authorities are searching for 17 bighas of land alongside the preparation of the DPR.
He said a project worth up to Rs 800 million could be brought to Dharan if the municipality took the initiative and coordinated with the federal government.