Cleanup project: Green Action, Let's do it Nepal! – 05.06.2012 (All day)
Actual number of volunteers: 9700
Amount of waste collected: 5 tons
Short overview
Locals from various range of age, from young ones to the elderly walked together on June 5 in various areas of Baneshwar, Nagarkot, Maharajgunj, to join hands together with Green Action, Let’s Do It Nepal! , to make the place clean and beautiful. In Katunje, Bardiya and Chitwan, particularly volunteer leaders were motivated by Green Action Members and then they organized local campaigns in participation with local government bodies.
Situation before the cleanup
Before the cleanup, there used to waste on both sides of the road. The waste usually included paper pieces, plastic, cans, and wrappers. Usually the people are not feeling responsible of regular cleaning of the areas. They think that it is responsibility of the government. Hence there is a gap in understanding between the government and people. Green Action members tried to motivate the government officials and other stakeholders at various levels to participate in the clean-up programs and to share the combine efforts.
Organizing
Structure. The core team consists of 15 members only. There were additional groups of around 60 volunteer leaders and volunteers to lead the local campaigns. The core team is comprised of Board Members of Green Action. The volunteer leaders are independent groups especially formed for the clean-up purpose.
Finance. The Board Members personally contributed their time, efforts and resources for consultation, coordination and networking with Government, I/NGOs, Associations, private organizations, volunteers etc. In addition to that the members arranged masks, gloves etc for the local clean-ups. We also got special support and arrangements from U.S Embassy Nepal, NCELL and Kathmandu Municipality jointly.
Partners. Our major partners of the cleanup programs are Government Agencies ( Kathmandu Municipality, Ministry of Urban Development, Traffic Police), U.S Embassy Kathmandu, NCELL, Nepal Red Cross Society, Colleges, Schools, Clubs, Nepal Tourism Board, Travel Agencies, Trekking Agencies, Mall, Department Store, Tour Operators, private clinic, hospitals, NGOs and INGOs.
Some partners provided logistics for the cleanup programs and some sent their representative for the participation.
Here is a brief description about the contribution from the Partners:
The U.S.Embassy Nepal office supported Green Action by providing us with the volunteers from the embassy. The most encouraging thing wasthat the U.S. Ambassador Scott H Delisi himself volunteered in the cleanup. The Embassy also gave T-shirts, gloves, and masks to the volunteers. Likewise, the Ncell also provided us with aprons, gloves and masks. Together with this, the locals from the respective communities volunteered in the cleanup. We also had students and teachers from many colleges participating. The Bhatbahteni departmental store (Mall) offered juice to all the participants. Namaste Supermarket provided us with the drinking water. The Nepal traffic Police helped us with the traffic management. And the Kathmandu Municipality office provided us with vehicles and containers for collecting the garbage.
Volunteers. 9, 700 people and 15 organizations
Kathmandu: 6,500
Other places (Katunje + Bardiya + Chitwan): 3,200
Logistics. For the Kathmandu based programs the logistics were organised by Kathmandu Municipality, U. S Embassy Kathmandu and NCELL. For other areas the logistics were arranged together with local government bodies.
The supported logistics: gloves, aprons, masks, garbage collecting containers, and the transportation vehicle.
Waste
Short overview of mapping. There was not digital mapping system. We had 40 points.
Mapped garbage points: 40
Cleaned garbage points: 40
Waste handling. Some concerned Municipality and local government bodies took the responsibility to handle the garbage after the cleanup.
Waste types. Metal, glass, tires, hazardous waste, paper, plastics
Some lovely story from the cleanup day One old sweeper lady, a staff member of the Kathmandu Municipality office said she has been doing this job of wiping the streets of Kathmandu for the last 30 years. When she saw people from different professions, young and old coming together to cleanup the roads, she felt encouraged. She felt people have started realizing the importance of the role of sweepers like her. It made her feel proud.
The U.S. Ambassador to Nepal Scott H Delisi participated in the cleanup. During the campaign he was encouraging the moral of the participants, and at the end of the cleanup, he even sang songs about environment with the young participants.
We had a senior photographer, a celebrity himself, Mr Raj Bhai Suwal joining us in the campaign. He shared that it because of a social responsibility, and he is very pleased that he had a chance to participate in the campaign.
The young student from Kumudhini School was very encouraged with the clean-up program. This was her first experience. She requested all the young people like her to join the cleanuup campaign.
The local participant from Katunje village was encouraged about the cleanup program and they have planned to declare their area as a plastic free zone.
The student from GATE college sang a song- “Cleanup cleanup …everybody.. everywhere, let’s clean-up Kathmandu!
