COVID-19 alters everyday life; people across the globe are in confinement. This has also implications for waste practices at the household level and beyond. This blog post depicts the observations of waste researchers in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.

As a researcher and a foreigner, certain waste management practices at Kirtipur Municipal Waste Management Centre in Nepal, and characteristics of their waste collection were useful for me especially when realising the how efficient and effective our local waste management process would be, if applied to Sri Lanka.

Kumari Thami was only 20 years old when she first came to live in Kathmandu. Originally belonging to Sundrawati of Dolakha district, Thami who is now 32 years old lives with her husband and two children. Today, she is the Vice President at the SaSaJa Cooperative – the only cooperative run entirely by and for the waste workers in Nepal – and a self-employed business owner who has setup her own shop in the empty shutter space in where she lived on rent.

After highly professional, efficient and successful working days, the r4d team went out to enjoy a team dinner in a Newari restaurant that during the food courses performs local and traditional dances on a stage. During the performances, the stage invites the audience to become performers themselves.