Today I visited the first of a few projects run by PSD-Nepal, the CRED Partner that I'm visiting out here. Situated in the Langtang district of Nepal, high up near the border with China, the project focuses on addressing the scourge of plastic waste - especially plastic drinks bottles.
Langtang is a national park, and one of the key areas for trekkers in Nepal. As a result, its a key area for trekkers who are consuming lots of fluids, but then maybe not so keen to carry the waste home with them. And so it gets dumped by the side of the track.
Over the years, the piles of bottles have grown and grown, without much in the way of ideas of what to do about it. But now, thanks to a wonderful team of locals here in Langtang, and the incredible input from Samuel Johns, sadly now departed, a plastic collection and upcycling programme is running.
Local Nepali people collect the bottles, bring them to the collection and segregation centre and get paid based on weight of bottles. When the collection centre is full, the bottles get collected by truck and taken to a plant near Pokhara that does the required processes (no I don't understand that bit) to result in recycled and upcycled plastic products that are then sold in markets and other outlets.
Such a good project, and lots of potential for more collection and sorting sites, and maybe even more processing plants, so as to reduce the cost of transportation.
I'd heard about the project before, but it was great to see it in action, and to visit the collection site, and also a plastic 'house' that was built along the trekking route, as an awareness raiser. Unfortunately landslides have rendered that route inaccessible at the moment, so few trekkers get to see the 'house', but there are hopes that it can be repositioned, or another one built, as it really is such an excellent visual image about the importance of not dropping bottles.
The project is also a beautiful legacy to the much loved and sadly missed Samuel Johns, RIP.
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