grantees » Manashree Newa

Meet an intelligent young woman who is looking for opportunities in places where others do not. Manashree is since 2018 highly involved in e-waste management in Nepal. She started her journey on e-waste by participating in a Smart City Challenge, which eventually evolved in working at Blue Waste to Value (BW2V). This organization aspires to maximize the value of waste. As a project lead, Manashree focusses together with BW2V on collecting, separating, and processing waste. Examples of projects are promoting recycling, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills, and creating green jobs. Eventually, Manashree wants to expand her views as an expert in waste management, contribute to the field, and strive for more sustainable waste policies.  

Working for BW2V, she created an e-waste take-back system with CG, a leading brand in the domain. Under her leadership, E-waste awareness programs have been conducted at three schools catering to about 500 students. There are plans to expand the awareness programs.
Manashree has received several awards for her contributions to the e-waste community. Her latest project, biogas production from human excreta at cold temperature, was granted Abhiskar Fellowship by ISET-Nepal and received a UIAA Mountain Award in 2017. In her earlier work, she presented at conferences like the International Conference on Water Security through Rainwater Harvesting in Sri Lanka. 

Due to Manashree’s passion for e-waste management, she is looking for ways to expand her knowledge and learn on e-waste so that she can apply new technologies, insights, or changes to her own country. Ultimately, she used the grant for two field-trips. The first trip focusses on visiting five organizations in Delhi, India, where she hopes to learn new ways for recycling and e-waste management. The second field-activity is attending an International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment. Here she seeks to make more connections with other leaders on e-waste and discover the latest innovations and trends in the field.