Autho-rities are seeking to employ more ad-vanced technology to treat waste, disposal of which costs more than KD 70 million per year, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Dr. Fadhel Safar, the Minister of Public Works, Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, addressing inauguration of the Kuwait Fourth Waste Management Conference and Exhibition, affirmed seriousness of the problem of increasing volume of waste, both regionally and locally.
Volume of the waste produced in the GCC countries, including Kuwait, is one of the largest among nations of the world. And in Kuwait, the individual produces up to 1.4 kg of waste per day, Safar said. Last year, countries of the region put out more than 22 tons of solid disposal materials. Kuwait’s share stood at 5.5 million, 85 percent of which resulted from construction and demolition of buildings, and more than one million from municipal waste, the minister added.
These figures are too big compared to the size of the country, he said, disclosing that the cost of waste treatment reached KD 70 million per year.
Safar acknowledged that authorities faced some difficulties in the efforts to treat the disposed materials with more effective means and techniques, underlining, among several problems, the lack of skilled personnel. “However, we are looking for solutions such as tendering new projects,” he said.
For his part, the Director General of Kuwait Municipality, Ahmad Al-Sebeeh, indicated that the event constituted an opportunity to examine latest technologies, displayed by foreign specialized firms taking part in the fair.
The municipality has made headways in the efforts for treating and recycling the waste, and seeks to employ more advanced technologies, Al-Sebeeh said.
For his part, Jamal Omran, the head of the steering committee of the event, affirmed that the Kuwaiti company Promedia organized the conference and the affiliate exhibition and praised Safar for sponsoring the gathering, involving more than 30 companies and corporates from Kuwait, GCC countries and international organizations.
Dr. Salah Al-Mudhi, the Director-General of the Environment Public Authority, urged in a statement citizens and residents of Kuwait to shoulder the responsibility of minimizing harm caused by all kinds of waste.
Management of waste has become one of the vital and important issues in “our society in the shadow of the rapid growth of the population and increasing numbers of the industrial projects and growing commercial and economies activities,” he said.
Resolving this problem warrants special educational and media programs to enhance the public awareness of the hazards of disposable materials and substances, he said, warning that the mounting production of waste at these high rates would negatively affect human health and environment in the country.
He estimated the domestic re-cycling market at KD 100 million per year.
The event is supported by the Regional Organization for Protection of Marine Environment (ROPME), Environment Public Authority (EPA), Kuwait Environment Protection Society (KEPS), Public Authority for Industry (PAI), the Kuwait University (KU) and Al-Dow company for environmental projects. The Environment Preservation Industrial Company (EPIC) is the main sponsor of the event.