MYAGDI – The beauty and environment of Annapurna Circuit trekking route passing through Muktinath, Jomsom, Marpha, Rupsechhahara, Tatopani, Ghorepani, Khopra, Ghandruk has been spoiled by the sporadic abandonment of plastic and glass products.
Not only the tourist destinations but also the adjoining areas connected to the circuit have littered with liquor and cold drink bottles, packets of noodles, biscuits, chocolates, edible oil and other instant food stuffs. Plastic and glass products are not easily disposed for years. However, no one has taken initiatives to settle down the problem of pollution in these areas.
Domestic and excursion visitors as well as foreign travelers throw the waste materials haphazardly in the restricted areas. “Roads have been built. The waste materials are thrown and dumped everywhere,” said student Priti Karki, who is a member of the excursion tour. Neither the sellers nor the users have managed the trash bins in the bus stops or along the routes,” she added. “Front sides of hotels and restaurants look clean but back sides of these buildings are stuffed with bottles and waste materials.”
Though the attempts were made to keep the trekking routes of the Annapurna Circuit clean and tidy, it is yet to be maintained well. The waste management in the area is being complicated along with increase of domestic tourists in these areas. It is necessary to raise awareness for throwing waste materials in the specified places and bins. The local stakeholders said that the local governments should manage a different mechanism to tackle the problem.
“The local bodies need to charge separate tax to manage the waste in these areas,” said Tej Gurung, coordinator of Annapurna Rural Municipality Conservation Committee formed by the Annapurna Conservation Area Project. “The waste materials should be segregated and managed separately.”
The waste materials including plastic and glass products are not sent for recycling due to lack of transportation facilities in the upper parts of trekking trails. The business entrepreneurs of Ghorepani areas have started burying the waste materials after they were thrown haphazardly but it’s not enough to solve the problem. “We dumped the plastic and beer bottles in two separate big trenches,” said Babu Ram Bhattarai, secretary of Annapurna Rural Municipality-6. “The broken glasses are also threats for human injuries apart from the environmental pollution.”
Both lower and upper areas of tourist destinations including base camps are littered with plastic and glass or can bottles and other waste materials. “We are trying to manage the waste by adopting the segregation method, recycling process or dumping in specified places with a better management,” said Bidur Kuikel, conservation officer of ACAP. “We have already replaced mineral water bottles in tourism settlements,” he added.
