Haa is among one of the smallest districts in the country. But the valley of close to 14 thousand inhabitants is dealing with a waste issue perhaps bigger than its size. The district is facing several waste-related issues such as waste reduction, segregation and poor awareness and monitoring. The district administration’s initiative to engage the civil servants and the residents in cleaning the town once every month is expected to bring about some positive changes in the way people manage their wastes.
Haa district administration formed a waste management group toward the end of last month. Civil servants in the district are leading the initiative.
“With the command from the Dzongda, we formally formed a waste management group on 31st March 2023. With the help of all the civil servants and other relevant offices, we would like to request people to understand the importance of waste management. Civil servants are doing their best to set an example to people,” said Sonam Norbu, Environment Officer.
Although newly formed, the group is playing its part in keeping the town clean. As part of the Zero Waste Hour initiative, civil servants in the district have to clean the surroundings of their respective offices on the 2nd day of every month.
The group also divides into smaller groups to clean the entire Haa town every Friday.
“The second day of every month is marked as zero waste hour. On that day all the civil servants have to work for an hour to clean their offices and surrounding areas. This cleaning hour is observed to advocate people on the importance of taking care of one’s own waste,” said Sonam Norbu.
The cleaning initiative is being carried out in collaboration with the DeSuung and other relevant offices in the district. The team mainly focuses on creating awareness, strict monitoring and imposing fines on waste defaulters.
“We have been trying our best to make people understand it is our duty to take care of our own waste,” said Kelzang Gamtsho, Culture Officer.
The town’s residents said they can already see some improvements adding that the people are now being more careful about waste management.
“With the help of the Waste Management group, DeSuung and the district officials, we are well informed about the fines if we do not take care of our own wastes. Now, we hardly see people being careless about their waste in and around the town. This helps us in keeping our town clean,” said Zeko, a resident.
“Haa is a tiny town compared to other cities. We are divided into three groups with a group leader each. With the help of the group leader, every week, we have been cleaning our town and surroundings. On that day, Throm representative, officials from the district and we people give our best to manage waste issues. There is a huge improvement in waste management now,” said Pachu Tshering, another resident.
Haa produces about a hundred truckloads of solid waste every year.
Tshewang, Haa
Edited by Phub Gyem
