A walk down to the solid waste dumpsite at Dalman Gaon (Kalimpong), to understand the complexity of waste management in a Himalayan town - by STH interns.

On 13Jun2023, we walked a distance of approximately 5.5km down a steep inclined road to Dalman Gaon, Bhalukhop village, to see the waste dumping ground used by the Kalimpong Municipality for the disposal of the town's solid waste.

Kalimpong has a population of 49403 (2011 census) and is one of the major towns in the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya and like all Himalayan towns, Kalimpong has a lot of development activity (much of it unplanned) taking place; the town is surrounded by a large number of home stays which add to the solid waste problem. 

 

As per the Municipality, it is estimated that 38.4 metric tonnes of waste is generated everyday of which only 10.4 tonnes of the waste is collected and the dumping ground has become a site where every conceivable type of solid waste is discarded.

 

On approaching the dumping ground, we encountered the rusting carcass of a biogas plant set up by the Municipality in 2015 with the intention of making and selling cooking gas in order to generate funds from the sale thereof. The construction cost of this plant was Rs 80 lakhs. It was estimated that the biogas plant could process 3 metric tonnes of organic waste per day with the final products being biogas and organic manure. The project failed due to a number of reasons and no biogas was commercially marketed from the plant.
The non-functional bio-gas plant raises questions regarding proper utilization of resources, loss of public money and accountability.

What was very apparent from seeing the dumping ground was that segregation of the huge volumes and assortment of waste at the dumpsite was an impossible task. Hence the necessity of segregation at the household level.

The Chota Bhalukhop area where the dumpyard is located, is a very landslide prone zone as per Geological Survey of India (GSI). The extraordinary rains of September 2007 resulted in a number of large landslides in this area and at least two landslide fatalities.

The dump yard being located in this zone results in the road to the site getting blocked frequently during the monsoons which causes the disposal of waste on streets of Kalimpong town - which could cause a serious health hazard in a densely populated urban setting. 

Historically, Kalimpong had two earlier solid waste disposal sites. The first dumpsite located above Alaichikhop village was discontinued after villagers protested in 2009 on the waste from town being dumped in their area.

 

After the Alaichikhop dumping site was closed a temple was built at the site to deter any one from dumping waste at the site.

Thus the second dump site was at Bhalukhop (see below).This second dumpsite however, had to be closed after considerable expenditure incurred in the construction because of landslides in the area.

 

 As such the Dalman Gaon dump site is the third dump site of Kalimpong town.

Kalimpong Municipality engages 4 vehicles(2 pickups, 2 tipper trucks) for collection of wastes from different parts of Kalimpong town which operates 3 trips per day to the dumpsite. They have around 20 persons engaged in this job.

After a long walk along the rugged hillside on the western face of Kalimpong, the image of a hill made up of solid wastes, mostly of plastic, revealed the ugly and almost insurmountable problem of solid waste management in a mountain town.

In conclusion, the visit to the solid waste dumping ground in Dalman Gaon, Bhalukhop village revealed the pressing need to reduce the amount of waste being produced in Kalimpong town especially because tourism is adding more and more waste to the mountains and to stringently implement the ban on single use plastics.
There is also an urgent need to launch a concerted campaign to raise awareness on the importance of household segregation of waste in Kalimpong.

Report by Interns with SaveTheHills (STH)

Akshima - IIT (Mandi)
Yogesh K Vijay - IIT (Mandi)
Mohd. Ashiq - IIT (Mandi)
Mohd. Salih - IIT (Mandi)

with guidance from

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744

An Event of Note: #Plastic Freedom Challenge pledge in Darjeeling (08Aug2019)

Over 100 students from schools and colleges, Darjeeling Municipality and members of Zero Waste Himalaya took the #Plastic Freedom Challenge pledge led by the Executive Officer, Darjeeling Municipality Shri Samiran Mandal at the Town Hall, Darjeeling on 8 August 2019. The pledge is to take a break from using plastic items for a week August 8 - August 15 so as to step towards a more sustainable lifestyle and reducing the load on the landfill. A plastic free Independence Day celebrations was also advocated in the event.

Plastic pollution has become one of the gravest concerns the world over and also for our mountains, the situation is no different. The plastic problem is directly related to how we are and packaging our products, but also largely to the way we are living our lives. We are Producing, Consuming and Throwing plastics like never before and all of the plastics which we have thrown will remain on the planet for a long time to come. Our oceans are full of plastics, so are our rivers and streams and forests. There is plastics in our bottled water, plastics in tap water, in the salt that we eat, and also in our poop. Therefore it goes without saying that there is a need to make concerted efforts to address the issue of plastic pollution through individual actions to bring changes to our lifestyles, as well as collective actions and policies to make companies more responsible. The #PlasticFreedomChallenge (#PFC) is a yearly campaign that takes place across the 12 mountain states and calls on individuals to that the challenge to go without plastic for a week.

Independence Day is a great opportunity to Beat Plastic Pollution and to break free from plastics, especially single use plastics. #PFC runs for a week from 8 August (Zero Waste Himalaya Day) to 15 August (Independence Day) where we challenge ourselves and others to go one week without plastics. #PFC is a collective response to bring positive changes to the unhealthy and unsustainable lives that we are leading and is a stepping stone to journey towards more sustainable lifestyles, while influencing others to do the same. #PFC is also to mark our collective stand against companies that pollute by refusing to use their products (that are also unhealthy and toxic) for a week, and to continue it beyond.

The event had presentations on the rationale for the Plastic Freedom Challenge and need to close the tap on plastic as the only solution to the plastic pollution and the need to go beyond the narrative of dustbins, brooms, rolling down the hill and burning waste. Ajay Chettri performed his song Taarjeeiling during the event and the song ended with Darjeeling ko phor kasley sangalera laney ho(who will manage the waste of Darjeeling) which gave the queue to the pledge.

The Town Hall had exhibition and sale of sustainable products like cloth sanitary pads and menstrual cups – DLR Prerna; locally produced reusable bags from Hayden Hall and Earth and Home; bamboo toothbrushes, straws, wooden pencils and games from Tieede, bio-degradable Rakhi from Scavengers. Zero Waste Himalaya had a poster series 12 steps to zero waste that highlights simple doable steps that enables individuals to reduce their waste and move to a more sustainable lifestyle. OKC Monastery had a special poster exhibition that highlighted their initiative of a plastic free Sakha Dawa where no plastic wrapped offering and food was used in the entire rituals and festivities. The exhibition inspired and offered options to the participants of the event.

 The participants at the Zero Waste Himalaya Day were students and teachers of St. Joseph’s College, Darjeeling Government College, Ghoom Jorebunglow Degree College, Municipal Boys HS, St. Teresa’s HS, Notre Dame Academy, Assembly of Gods Church School, Nepali Girl’s HS, St. Joseph’s, St. Robert’s, Municipal Girls HS.


Zero Waste Himalaya is a pan Himalayan collective of individuals, Government Organisations, CSOs, FBOs that promote principles of zero waste as the sustainable waste management paradigm. The Darjeeling event was represented these ZWH members Anugyalaya, DLR Prerna, Scavengers, Tieede, WWF-India.
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Contact details of ZERO WASTE HIMALAYA
Mr Roshan Rai (DLR Prerna) - rairoshan@gmail.com
Ms Priya Shrestha (WWF-India) - darshineep@gmail.com
Mr RP Gurung (ECOSS) -rpgecoss@gmail.com
Mt Arpan Rai (Anugyalaya,Darj) - director.anugyalaya@gmail.com
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Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

STH activities : Raising awareness in Kalimpong on the menace of plastic waste (08Apr2019)

STH is a part of the Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative which in turn is the W Bengal state chapter of IMI

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya

SaveTheHills (STH) activities in May 2018 - The Himalayan Cleanup (26May2018)

Both Earth Day (22April) and World Environment Day (05Jun) had 'PLASTIC POLLUTION' more specifically targeting single use plastics as its theme in 2018 and in keeping with this Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI) launched its own anti- plastic/awareness campaign right across the Himalayas with the support of the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI).
The idea was to quantify and categorize the humongous quantities of plastic littering our mountains and thereby spread awareness and also make the multinational food/beverage companies sit up and take notice.
At Kalimpong, SaveTheHills (which a part of DHI), along with Dr PT Bhutia, a close friend and with help of the local Forest  authorities also took part in a 2 day effort in this regard. Images of the event are posted below:

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya