Plans are underway to recycle the growing mountain of waste in Bahrain that exceeded 1.5 million tonnes last year.Domestic waste management director Ammar Yasser told Southern Municipal Council members at their meeting yesterday that blueprints for new recycling systems have been drawn up to tackle at least a quarter of the dumped materials.“Around 25pc of the total waste collected last year could have been recycled,” said Mr Yasser. “Plastic constituted 258,614 tonnes (17pc), followed by paper cardboard (52,901 tonnes), textiles (29,531 tonnes), glass (24,631 tonnes), metals (14,312 tonnes) and electrical and electronic equipment (3,273 tonnes) ... all of which could be recycled.“We are working on 300 recycling locations and the plan is to have it included as an obligation in the new contract for the winning bidder selected to handle cleaning duties in the country.”He added that the initial recycling target would be 20,000 tonnes annually, which could be increased after assessment.“There is a work plan in partnership with Bapco and GCCC to launch a phone app, through which people can ask for recyclable items to be collected from them by local private recycling companies,” said Mr Yasser. “We are also encouraging more companies to enter the business of recycling and manufacturing items from such materials.”Meanwhile, Mr Yasser revealed that construction and demolition waste constituted the highest in the country with 433,711 tonnes, which was 28pc of the total waste last year.He added that it was followed by food waste at 362,712 tonnes, green waste (143,546 tonnes), industrial waste or sludge (101,213 tonnes), rejects and residuals from municipal solid waste (100,942 tonnes) and tyres (7,473 tonnes).Council chairman Abdulla Abdullatif hoped recycling projects would be implemented at the earliest with them being expanded later to cater to the need of the hour.The GDN reported earlier that Bahrain’s ageing landfill site in Hafeera could be offered to a private company through an international tender to help turn waste into energy. Capital Trustees Board technical committee chairman Mubarak Al Nuaimi, who proposed the move, believes pioneering technology combined with experience could form part of an urgent action plan necessitated by the site’s life span scheduled to only last until 2025.Bahrain has already initiated 29 ‘rapid action’ plans, 90 short-term projects, 27 medium-term policies and 34 long-term strategies to manage the country’s waste. (ICE Doha)

Fonte notizia: Gulf Daily News