On March 3, waste workers and waste pickers from Indonesia and the Philippines visited a Zero Waste hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, days after they staged a march together with other representatives from various countries in the Asia Pacific region to celebrate International Waste Pickers Day on March 1.
The Armed Police Force Hospital is one of the 22 Zero Waste hospitals in Nepal that proudly implement waste management and recovery programs through the assistance of GAIA member, HECAF360.
During the visit, HECAF360’s Executive Director Mahesh Nakarmi and Senior Program Officer, Prerana Dangol, showed the visitors their comprehensive waste management process, from the consistent use of color-coded bins to at-source waste segregation to the treatment of infectious waste to the recovery of recyclables, all the while emphasizing the importance of good governance in the success of the program.
“Not many people understand the link between hospitals and waste pickers, but the reason we’re working on hospital waste management is to ensure the safety of waste pickers. A huge percentage of hospital waste is infectious. Anything that has had contact with body fluids – syringes, blood bags, ampules – is infectious. This type of waste must be treated before they are discarded or recovered,” Nakarmi told the visitors.
“Without proper hospital waste management, the infectious waste may end up in landfills untreated, causing harm to waste pickers who recover these resources. I tell the doctors: ‘We say, do no harm, but if you do not have good waste management in your hospitals, you may be saving your patients’ lives, but you might be [unwittingly] harming the life of others — the people who are forced to manage improperly disposed of hospital waste,” he added.
Accompanied by GAIA and Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI) staff, the Filipino and Indonesian contingents were in the Nepali capital to attend the first regional congress of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers-Asia Pacific, of which many of them are members.