Waste management is a problem in almost all the towns in the country. Damphu town in Tsirang is no exception. With increasing population, shopkeepers have started coming together to clean the town. Every shop in the town is closed once in a month to clean their own town.
The municipal office collects waste three times in a week. “Firstly we are trying to educate the people by cleaning our town. We have a very small town. And we want to make it clean to set an example. And we hope other people will also take our step in managing our waste,” said Rinzin Chophel, one of the residents.
According to the shopkeepers, the cleaning campaign has been effective in reducing the waste. “The shopkeepers are not littering the town anymore. But the customers and those living in the residents used to litter the town. But now it’s much better because of our initiative,” said Nado Gyeltshen, Thromdey Thuemi.
The shopkeepers also came up with rules to punish those who do not come to clean their town. Through such initiatives, shopkeepers said they hope to keep their town clean and set an example to other towns in the country.