Kathmandu faces a growing food waste crisis with significant social, environmental, and economic impacts. Cultural practices often lead to overproduction of food during celebrations, particularly in hotels and banquets, resulting in large quantities of uneaten food being discarded. This contributes to the city’s overwhelming solid waste problem, straining landfill capacities and worsening waste management challenges. Municipal systems struggle to manage the rapid generation of organic waste, forcing households and businesses to store or improperly dispose of waste in streets and rivers, causing environmental and public health risks.

The rise of restaurants and eateries has further increased waste generation, especially from evening meals consumed by residents, including youngsters and professionals. Most establishments outsource waste collection, but the waste is neither controlled nor processed sustainably, often ending up in poorly managed landfills or open dumping sites. To address this, ISET-Nepal, with financial support from DCA, is implementing an innovative food waste management project in collaboration with Blue Waste to Value Pvt. Ltd. The initiative aims to develop efficient processing systems and sustainable solutions, benefiting a larger population while mitigating food waste impacts.

An environmentally sound café promoting Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle principles is also essential. Such a café would support waste reduction at the source and reduce reliance on single-use plastics. Since 2014, Blue Waste to Value has managed waste, with 5-star hotels generating 200-500 kg of organic waste daily, partly used for animal feed or composting.