The Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) is preparing an action plan to give local bodies authority to ban use of plastic bags in Nepal.

"We are preparing a waste management action plan that allows local bodies to ban plastic bags," said Dipendra Oli, legal officer at Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Center under MoLD.

"The plan will be finalized within the current fiscal year," he said Tuesday at a program "Perspectives and Challenges of Solid Waste Management in Kathmandu Valley" organized by Youth Network for Social and Environmental Development.

Oli said it would be easier for municipalities to ban plastic bags. "Our attempt to include the policy in the law failed with plastic business entrepreneurs influencing the government," he said, adding, "They pay a huge amount in tax on plastic bags."

The new action plan also purports to address issues of hospital waste, participation of private sector and non-governmental- organizations in waste management and the concept of collective effort to make the environment better.

A study report of Kathmandu Valley presented at the program revealed that 20 percent of waste produced in the valley is dumped at riverbanks randomly.

About 700 tons of garbage is produced every day in Kathmandu Valley, according to Binod Prakash Singh, under-secretary, who heads the environment management section at the ministry.