Women Act, with the support from NEKORPA/Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, implemented a project titled ‘Zero Waste Management Project’ from September 2010 to February 2013 in then Shesa Village Development Committee of Kathmandu. As part of the project, Women Act conducted community-wide sanitation awareness-building campaign to reduce trash along the principal pilgrimage route, working with the monasteries, temple priests, and local civic and school groups, youth clubs, mother’s groups, etc. Three staff members from Women Act attending an educational conference on Zero Waste Management at Deer Park Institute in Himachal Pradesh, and the methodology from that conference was the bases for the outreach in Pharping.
Women Act created a center for garbage collection, separation, recycling, and pick-up location for recyclables and reuse on the land donated by the Adarsha High School. Additionally, Women Act supported the building of public toilet near the bus stop in Pharping. Moreover, Women Act’s pilot initiative in Pharping of plastic-bottle walled public toilet block was an innovative step that contributed to the overall effort of waste management in the Pharping area. Women Act collected discarded water and soda bottles and filled them with sand and the bottle were then used with brick and cement. The construction of the toilet block has spurred a weekly cleanup in the streets and alleyways of Pharping. The women’s group began making organic compost for fertilizer and started selling at their local cooperative to fund the upkeep of the public toilet. Women Act sensitized school children and mobilized them as Ambassadors of zero waste management.
