Plastic is the enemy. If only it were easy for us just to make it global law that everything was biodegradable. The rubbish problem in Jumla is not anywhere as pungent or extreme as Kathmandu, but it is still a problem. Where can you put your empty bottles or used batteries? I can’t throw away my empty moisturiser tube as there is no rubbish collection. And it can’t be burnt in the fire. It really makes you think about how much ‘stuff’ we waste in our disposable society. And just because we bury our used plastics in landfills, doesn’t make them go away. In Nepal and India the only difference is you see the piles of rubbish out on display as no one is digging a hole for it.
But here in Jumla, there is less, simply because people use less. Particularly in the villages outside Jumla Bazaar (the main town is actually called Chandanath which is the district name by everyone just calls it Jumla or Bazaar). Milk is delivered by a young girl who pulls out two plastic bottle (old Sprite bottles or some such) from swaths of cloth, the milk is emptied into a pot and the bottles are returned to her, I assume to be refilled and delivered to the next house. Vegetables are picked from the garden and have no packaging. Rice, grain, pulses are all in pots on the shelf, scooped from larger sacks – no packaging there. The wrappings from noodle or biscuit packets are burned in the fire. Few people use moisturiser.
One thought that has played on my mind a lot while I have been in Jumla is how the infrastructure needs to be in place in preparation for ‘the tourist’, as slowly, this region will get developed. Foreigners, trekkers are going to want to buy mineral water. In bottles. Where will they go when they are empty? This severely needs to be addressed before the influx of ‘the tourist’, which is still a little way off, but as with all places of interest and natural beauty, is inevitable.
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