Waste Problems in Bhutan

“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi.

In Bhutan, it is not uncommon to see ugly sight of garbage dumped on the roadside, solid waste thrown away at river banks, and landfills amassed with huge amount of rubbish. It is becoming more and more difficult for municipalities to manage solid waste in an efficient manner as urbanization and population has both increased.
                                                                
Thirty years ago, it was not a big issue as Bhutan had no more than 600,000 people and more than half of the population lived in rural areas. Bhutanese imported few goods from the neighboring countries, mainly India. They produced almost everything in their own country, such as: milk, cheese, butter, rice, meat, wool, cotton, etc. But in recent years, Bhutanese's consumption pattern has changed and people started to import a large number of goods, spending billions of Ngultrum. Because of this continuous trend, waste generation and disposal has become a major issue in Bhutan.
                                                          
Part of the reason contributing to waste management problem is lack of civic responsibilities, inefficient legal arrangements and strategic planning, and insufficient resources.

In Bhutan, we have two systems in place: one for landfill and another where the materials are left to decompose naturally, usually few meters away from the house. We know that both these systems are not environmentally friendly and usually they lead to other problems; when landfills are no longer able to take in more garbage they are usually relocated to other places causing huge environmental impact. If it continues, deforestation and non-biodegradable toxic substances can complicate our lives.

All these problems can be addressed if we start working together and sharing ideas with one another. As individual, we need to understand that we generate quite a lot of waste and we need to change our habits of consumption and day by day practices. As the scale of this problem is really huge, big organizations, firms, companies, etc., can come up with projects like Waste to Energy (WtE) plants and recycling sectors in every district. Further to this, we need to look for the most sustainable solution to face this challenge.