240 people trained in composting, and what comes next

240 community people were trained. Compost bins were delivered. The funding was one time.

That is where Deepa Lama's organic waste composting and rooftop farming project stands. She is President and Co-founder of Kalpavatika Society Nepal, a non profit that she describes as a grassroot, youth-led organization. She led and completed the project in Nagarjun Municipality in 2025, with support from Youth4Climate, UNDP Rome Center.

“But still mobilizing the available resources and connections I'm working toward urban sustainability of Kathmandu.”

Deepa Lama

Something carried on after it ended. Following the training and the delivery of the compost bins, Deepa says, a women group "has started producing compost at their homes."

Money is the hard part. Raising funds as a grassroot youth-led organization "gets overwhelming," Deepa says, and the most demotivating part is hearing no from almost everywhere. Because the project's funding was one time, she says it is now "kind of hard" to move to the next stage and extend what the project did.

The next stage is a place to bring the compost together. To turn the women's compost into income for them, Deepa wants to establish a compost unit or center "where everyone can collect their compost and further sell it to nearby farmers." It would be run in coordination with the women group.

The aim, she says, is urban sustainability: "diverting the organic waste from landfill site and eliminating the emission of methane into the atmosphere."