JEDDAH: Driving through the streets of Jeddah it is hard not to notice the huge trash bins and the men in uniform who are clearly trying their best to keep the city clean. How much are we trying to do the same? Are we taking any sort of initiatives?
Jeddah has seen a rise in population, estimated to be as much as 3.4 million, according to the Municipality. Jeddah produces more than 4,200 tons of garbage every day.
“Most GCC countries rank in the top ten worldwide in terms of waste production per capita,” according to Qatar Today.
“Things have changed for sure,” said Abu Abdullah, a Saudi who was born and brought up in Jeddah. “First there were Yemenis sweeping the streets, but now it’s Bangladeshis. Things are mechanized now, but there is room for improvement. Attitudes of the public need to change.”
It is common to give examples from the West to indicate civic sense and responsibility, but we may not have to go so far to learn these lessons. Qatar has taken a lot of steps to initiate recycling among its residents, especially among the youth. The Qatar Foundation, a home to six world-class universities, has planted the seeds of recycling by placing containers that allow students to separate their trash in their universities as well as dorms.
The UAE has the Dubai Recycling Park, the first one in the Middle East. Apart from this, the Abu Dhabi government has announced plans to start door-to-door collection of recyclable materials and place bins in residential areas for organic and recyclable waste. To solve the problem of overflowing bins, an electronic underground waste disposal system has been started in selected areas in Abu Dhabi.
Many Jeddah residents are unaware of the concept of recycling. The more that they learn about recycling the more enthusiastic they are about it. One of the major advantages of recycling is that it saves energy. Steel and aluminum can be recycled hundreds of times.
Even though the educated might not be fully aware of the concept of recycling, there is a group of people who survive by selling garbage.
Fatima Haroon, a 24-year-old Chadian, searches for aluminum cans and left over food with her daughter tied on her back. She gets SR2.50 for a kilo of aluminum and makes about SR50 a week. For her life has become tough as more women have entered the job of trash picking. Apart from them, there are Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who do it, too. Saudi Arabia has also taken steps toward recycling. Currently, there are six companies involved.
“The main problem that residents face is the overflowing trash bins,” said Suhail Raza. “For me, it’s a bigger problem than people throwing Pepsi cans out of their cars because most of garbage here is food waste and it stinks and causes diseases.”
According to the Baladiyah (Jeddah municipality) workers, most of the trash is emptied once a day in residential areas and twice on main roads. Mohammed Zubin, a Bangladeshi who has been working with the municipality for six years, said that trash on Jeddah roads has increased during the past few years.
“Increasing labor or trash bins will not solve the problem because people need to change. Why are London or Singapore so clean? It is because the people there throw trash in the right place and they don’t litter.” Both the residents of Jeddah and the Baladiyah workers believe that implementing a fine would be the solution to this problem. Laws have always served as a tool in regulating public behavior and would surely help us move toward a cleaner Jeddah.
Hopefully very soon, when we see an African woman picking beverage cans out of the waste bins, rather than looking at her with pitiful eyes, we would laud her sense of recycling.
