By Satish Kanady
DOHA: Qatar is working on an ambitious plan to effectively contain its burgeoning solid waste management problem. The country’s national waste recycling programme, which is currently restricted to schools and university campuses, will soon be expanded to households and neighbourhoods.
The authorities are working on laws that would make it mandatory for public to recycle the wastes that they are generating on daily-basis, a top official involved in Qatar’s proposed waste management programme hinted yesterday.
“Currently, Qatar’s waste recycling programme is limited to only schools and universities. This will soon be expanded to families and neighborhoods and public spaces. Government institutions will soon become part of the programme”, Farraj Sheikh Al Fassari, Consultant at the office of the minister for Municipality and Urban Planning said while addressing an official function at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce yesterday.
Mobile treatment plants and dedicated trucks will be pressed into service, besides distributing specially-designed containers to families. The idea is to bring the entire country under the waste management programme, possibly in a short span of time. As a precursor to it, the ministry will be launching an intensive awareness programme, he said.
Farraj said the ministry will seek active participation of private sector in its ‘clean Qatar drive’. Private companies, who are into the business of recycling solid wastes into consumer products, like glass and plastic goods, would be encouraged.
The initiative will help business and environment work hand-in-hand.
According to recent reports, Qatar has one of the highest per capita waste generation rates worldwide of 1.8 kg per day. The country produces more than 2.5 million tonnes of municipal solid waste each year. Solid waste stream is mainly comprised of organic materials (around 60 percent) while the rest of the waste steam is made up of recyclables like glass, paper, metals and plastics.
The 2011-16 National Development Strategy has listed several targets to reduce the amount of waste produced, including a goal to increase recycling rates from 8 percent to up to 25 percent.
And after Qatar hosted the UN Climate Change Conference (COP18) in 2012, there were talks of setting up a national recycling programme in a bid to improve Qatar’s waste diversion rates. However, it did not take off as planned.
With Qatar’s population growth rate fast accelerating, the country is struggling to find ways to manage the increasing amount of waste produced.
The Peninsula
