Vision
Contributing to sustainable social development through environment, health and education.
About
Our story
NEPCEMAC was founded in Lalitpur in 1997 by young people who wanted their city to be clean. This is how that work grew.
In the 1990s, unplanned urbanisation and fast population growth left Nepal’s cities — Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Biratnagar, Dharan, Birgunj, Nepalgunj — struggling with waste thrown on riverbanks, roadsides and around temples. Most people had a “throw and forget” attitude, and there was no clear policy on private or community participation in waste management.
NEPCEMAC was founded in 1997 by a group of young people in Lalitpur who wanted to change that. It began with fifty households in Kusunti, collecting waste door to door and asking neighbours to clean their own streets together. Within a decade it was collecting from more than 13,000 households, working in five municipalities, running composting plants and employing over 250 people from low-income families — funded by the households it served rather than by donors.
Since 2013 the daily collection work has been carried by Nepsemyak Sewa Pvt. Ltd., and NEPCEMAC has focused on what an NGO does best: awareness, training, segregation at source, composting, clean-up campaigns, research and the health of waste workers and their communities.
Mission
- Build the capacity of communities to recover resources from solid waste efficiently.
- Promote people’s right to good health services, a sound living environment and education.
Goals
- Generate income for communities from discarded materials.
- Help make urban society neat, clean, green and healthy.
- Provide education with a focus on the environment.
- Make good, affordable health services available.
What guides us
Our values
- 01
Community focus
We care that every community gets a lasting partnership for managing its waste.
- 02
Equity
We are fair in all our dealings, whatever a person’s ethnicity, religion, politics, disability, gender or age.
- 03
Quality
We aim for high-quality results in everything we do.
- 04
Integrity
We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards.
Timeline
Milestones since 1997
- 1997
Founded in Lalitpur
Registered at the District Administration Office, Lalitpur on 28 April 1997 (Baisakh 16, 2054 BS). Door-to-door collection starts with fifty households in Kusunti.
- 1999
Affiliated with the Social Welfare Council
Affiliation no. 9485, on 1 October 1999.
- 2001
Work begins in Kathmandu
From 30 November 2001, in Kathmandu Metropolitan City wards 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 15 and 16 and parts of Sitapaila, Khadka Bhadrakali, Dhapasi, Mahankal, Kapan and Ichangu Narayan.
- 2004
Composting plants and new cities
Composting plants open at the Central Zoo, Jawalakhel and at Handigaun. Programmes begin in Biratnagar (May) and Itahari (July).
- 2005
Best NGO award
The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology names NEPCEMAC the best NGO on World Environment Day.
- 2006
Triyuga, Udayapur
Activities start in Triyuga Municipality on 2 May 2006 — the fifth municipality NEPCEMAC works in.
- 2007
Health, sanitation and education
NEPCEMAC starts work in health, sanitation and education and sets up a Community Health Centre in Kusunti for waste workers, their families and poor households.
- 2008
“Water is Life” with Amici dei Bambini
A two-and-a-half-year water, sanitation and health project for children, agreed with the Italian INGO and the Social Welfare Council. The same year Practical Action Nepal publishes NEPCEMAC’s door-to-door model as a national best practice.
- 2009
Nepsemyak Sewa is established
A company is set up to run collection and transport on a larger scale.
- 2013
Focus on awareness and training
Daily collection is handed to Nepsemyak Sewa; NEPCEMAC concentrates on awareness, training, segregation, composting and research.
- 2019
Weekly clean-up campaigns
NEPCEMAC takes part in the weekly Lalitpur ring-road and Hanumante River campaigns and manages the waste they collect.
- Today
Today
About 50,000 families in the Kathmandu Valley sort their waste at home with green and red buckets. The goal: 300,000 families within five years.
Objectives
What we set out to do
- Encourage people to take part in waste management through regular awareness programmes.
- Train people in composting, recycling and other waste management methods.
- Carry out and promote research on environmental protection and health.
- Promote composting and recycling at household and community level.
- Run tree-planting and greenery programmes.
- Promote organic farming and rooftop gardening.
- Create jobs by extending waste management services.
- Work with government, INGOs and NGOs for effective partnerships in solid waste management.
- Share information and research through leaflets, newsletters, booklets, reports and articles.
- Give education priority to poor and orphaned children and children of families in hardship.
- Deliver public health services such as environmental health and clinical services.
Registration
A registered, affiliated non-profit
NEPCEMAC is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation registered in Nepal. It keeps double-entry accounts and is audited every year.
| Number | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| RegistrationDistrict Administration Office, Lalitpur | 759 | 28 April 19972054/01/16 BS |
| Social Welfare Council affiliationSocial Welfare Council | 9485 | 1 October 19992056/06/14 BS |
| Permanent Account Number (PAN)Inland Revenue Office, Lalitpur | 101469430 | 18 September 20032060/06/01 BS |
Also registered with the Central Regional Health Directorate, Hetauda, for health services.
Organisation
How we are organised
Members elect the executive committee at the general assembly. The committee is guided by an advisory council and carried out by the central secretariat and its departments.
General Assembly
Central Executive CommitteeAdvisory Council
Central Secretariat
AdministrationField managementAccountsBranch officesResearch, development & documentation
Our circle
Sister organisations
Organisations that grew out of, or alongside, NEPCEMAC’s work in waste management.
Nepsemyak Sewa Pvt. Ltd.
Door-to-door waste collection since 2009
nepsemyak.com.np
Pariwartan Sewa Pvt. Ltd.
Waste services, Kathmandu (est. 2062 BS)
Facebook
Green City Sanitation Pvt. Ltd.
Sanitation services, Balaju, Kathmandu
Swastha Samaj
Pollution control and a healthy society