Bhutan: Paro to soon have new by-law to achieve zero waste

Consultation and familiarization meetings on the draft by-law were held with the district’s local leaders, institutions, and regional offices, recently, reports The Bhutan Live.

When the by-law is implemented, it will become mandatory for all the Gewog offices to build a waste drop-off facility in their Gewog. People in Paro town will also be charged a minimum fee while dumping waste in garbage trucks. Similarly, garbage trucks will also be made available after office hours for the convenience of office goers. These are some of the key highlights of the by-law, the news portal reported.

The Waste Management Committee, chaired by Paro Dzongda includes officials from the municipal office, Gups and the district environment officer.

Levying of fees while dumping waste is expected to raise some eyebrows, however, authorities say this is to encourage segregation and sustain the implementation of the new system.

Gyelpo Tshering, the Wangchang Gup who is also a member of Paro’s Waste Management Committee says the by-law will encourage people to practise segregation at source and produce less waste going to dump yards.

“If we do that, recyclable wastes could go to scrap dealers and degradable ones will go to its designated place. Then, it would not overwhelm the dump yards. Meanwhile, when we execute the by-law it would require some amount of money to function and sustain, for that we thought the fee collection would help," Gyelpo Tshering told the news portal.