A staggering 1.4 million tonnes of domestic and commercial waste made its way to the Askar landfill site last year, it was revealed during a key forum on sustainability yesterday, as environmentalists look at changing the kingdom’s ‘throwaway culture’.Speaking on the second day of the 2024 Bahrain Smart Cities Summit, held at the Gulf Convention Centre in Adliya, Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry household waste director Ammar Abdulkarim stressed the importance of introducing new initiatives aimed at ‘effective management of waste’ in Bahrain.“There is a need for strategies and initiatives to promote sustainable methods, raise awareness and integrate household waste management to reduce the amount of rubbish in the future.”Mr Abdulkarim identified eight different types of waste that were dumped in 2023, namely domestic, commercial, garden, industrial, fallen stock, tyres, building waste and liquids.Domestic waste, which includes food waste, paper, glass, metals and plastics, constituted about 501,548 tonnes (41 per cent) of the total rubbish at the landfill.Commercial waste, which mainly comes from firms or businesses or from sport, recreation, education and entertainment activities, was estimated to be about 287,532 tonnes (20.3pc).Another 108,288 tonnes (7.6pc) came from garden waste, including grass cuttings and hedge clippings.Industrial waste, such as sludge, product residues and ashes from factories, numbered 33,564 tonnes (2.4pc).Fallen stock, animals that have died of natural causes or disease, constituted about 915 tonnes (0.1pc) of waste.Additionally, 810 tonnes (0.1pc) of unwanted and discarded tyres were also dumped. Building waste, mainly debris from construction, was about 369,403 tonnes (26.1pc).Finally, liquid waste, such as commercial and industrial wastewater, residual sewage, fat and grease was about 25,910 tonnes (2.5pc).In order to deal with the high number of rubbish piling up, a new landfill area will have to come on stream, with bidding underway. “This will act as an extension to the existing one in Askar,” Mr Abdulkarim said. “The ministry is currently considering 11 bidders to design, build and operate it.“We expect the first phase of the project to be constructed and ready to accept waste by mid-2025.Mr Abdulkarim stated that the ministry was also working on initiatives to raise awareness and promote recycling, possibly increasing the number of recycling collection locations to about 300 across the kingdom. Privatisation of waste collection to improve efficiency is also under consideration.The 2024 Bahrain Smart Cities Summit concluded yesterday with a presentation on smart meters and Bahrain’s smart grid by the Electricity and Water Authority, a panel discussion on Bahrain’s national afforestation plan by the Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry, and more.The GDN reported earlier that the Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry is set to roll out ‘smart rubbish bins’ as part of efforts to streamline waste management. Coming as part of a hi-tech GPS tracking system, the bins would notify municipal employees when they are full by changing colours from green to red.The system also calculates the best possible routes for rubbish trucks to take in order to efficiently gather as much waste in as little time as possible, and to raise productivity and more awareness on how much waste each area tends to produce. (ICE Doha)

Fonte notizia: Gulf Daily News