Zero Water Hour cleaning Thimphu

The Zero Waster Hour initiative is showing visible results in cleaning campaign in Bhutanese capital Thimphu with more people volunteering to clean the city. So far, the volunteers have collected over 24 metric tonnes of waste. 

The campaign launched four months ago. During these period, over 730 individuals including government officials, members of civil society organisations, private agencies and volunteers from institutions and schools joined the campaigned. 

Among waste collected, plastics constituted the highest component in all the cleaning campaigns conducted, followed by rubber, glass, clothes, wood, metal, and papers. The collected waste is segregated in waste management unit of the Thimphu municipality and disposed off.

Zero Water Hour is observed for an hour on the second day of every month at the initiative of National Environment Commission that envision to create Zero Waste Society by 2030.

In an effort to move towards the vision, the Zero Waste Hour is expected to eliminate illegal dumping of wastes, inculcate behavioral change towards proper waste management and practice sustainable consumption lifestyle leading to a safe, healthy and clean community environment.

Thimphu’s solid waste generation is projected to increase to 124MT per day by 2027, if an estimated 200,000 people are living in the capital, according to the strategic environment assessment for Thimphu structure plan.

Thimphu has a population 114,551 as per Housing Census and Population 2017.