DAMMAM, 2 January 2007 — Eastern Province Deputy Mayor Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Humaidhi underscored yesterday the need for a profitable and safe management of garbage and even expressed the office’s willingness to cooperate with the private sector in launching new waste treatment and recycling projects.
Speaking in a workshop organized by the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industries in Dammam, Al-Humaidhi said “the local administration has been striving to convince the government to formulate the statutes needed for establishing joint waste recycling projects,” adding that his office would do everything possible to end all the environment problems caused by garbage.
By the middle of this month, he said a SR15 million contract for the management of domestic garbage would be finalized.
Noting that the huge volume of garbage in the dumping centers or simply littered around is a major source of environmental pollution in the Kingdom, Al-Humaidhi further said “the mayor’s office in the province is planning to set up a biochemical laboratory to monitor the level of pollution in our neighborhoods.”
He added that his office plans to establish various local stations to monitor the level of pollution at different places on a regular basis.
Speaking on the occasion, Bandar Al-Sibaie, municipal chairman of Dhahran, said the recycling industry has a major part to play in the protection and preservation of environment.
“The recycling also helps us preserve the natural resources, protect farm lands and keep environment from toxic emissions,” he said.
The municipal chairman said 99 percent of the imported paper ended up as garbage while only one percent was preserved in the form of books and other documents, adding that paper in the form of newspapers, books, bags, cartons, etc. constituted 22 percent of the garbage in the country. Glass wastes took four percent and metals such as iron, aluminum and copper occupied six percent of the wastes, he said. There are 290 factories that use scrap iron as raw material and 12 plants that could use waste aluminum. There are 11 plants that use plastic wastes, he said.
Al-Sibaie said “when the 22 plants under construction are completed, the volume of locally manufactured organic fertilizers would reach 1 million tons annually.” He also said at present four major plants in the Kingdom manufacture 154,000 tons of organic fertilizers by recycling.
“Huge capital should be invested in establishing recycling plants for organic substances, paper, cartons, glass, metals, plastic, timber etc.,” the official said.