Tag Archives: Waste Management

The Menace of Littering and How to Solve It

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Littering is a common menace one can witness in all urban areas. Streets, sidewalks, parking lots, roads and highways are mostly covered with food wrappers, soft drink and water bottles, plastic bags, handbills, cigarette butts, tissues, papers and others. Littering is most likely to take place at locations where litter is already ‘present’. The Growing Menace of Litter Around 1.9 billion tonnes of litter end up in the ocean every year, which clearly shows that people tend to throw things randomly anywhere, more often than they throw waste in garbage bins. Litter is not just an ugly or an aesthetic … Continue reading →

7 Ways to Tackle Litter Problem in Jordan

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In the recent past, Amman was among the cleanest cities in the world. These days, like many other countries, Jordan experiences littering of all waste types in its public areas, which has serious impacts on the environment, the economy, the aesthetic appearance of the regions that experience littering, and the public health. The “Invisible Trash” Littering which has become a national scourge is omnipresent in Jordan. Drive along any road in Jordan and you will see all types of  litter, including cans, cigarette butts, plastic bags, tissues, sandwich wrappers, and old tyres. To outline the problem, an observational study was carried … Continue reading →

Waste-to-Energy in Jordan: Potential and Challenges

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Effective sustainable solid waste management is of great importance both for people’s health and for environmental protection. In Jordan, insufficient financial resources, growing population, rapid urbanization, inadequate management and lacking of technical skills represent a serious environmental challenge confronting local government. At the same time, energy remains Jordan’s top challenge for development. The energy needs to be produced in a sustainable way, preferably from renewable sources which have a minimum environmental impact. To face the future problems in waste management, as well as securing the demand of renewable energy, it is necessary to reuse the wasted resources in energy production. … Continue reading →

Sustainability Perspectives for Amman

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Is Amman a sustainable city? No, it is not. That isn’t a very surprising statement if you’ve ever lived in or visited Amman. By all means, it’s a beautiful city, with plenty to offer visitors and residents alike. It is a diverse city with a wide range of experiences to offer between East and West Amman or Downtown to Abdoun. The fact remains however that it is not a very sustainable city. We as residents are not being kind to the city we call home. When I look at Amman I happen to see all the things I like, but also all … Continue reading →

Women and the Environment: Perspectives from Arabia

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Women and the environment are closely interlinked, throughout history, different nations glorified women as powerful symbols of nature, and nature has always been given the female characteristics: care, reproduction and life-giving. Nevertheless, women’s involvement in the preservation of the environment has seldom been recognized and documented in the histories of several nations. One of the most significant phenomena in the last decades is recognition of women rights to achieve sustainable development; many international agreements reflected this recognition, including Rio Declaration in 1992, which stresses the point of the centrality of the full women participation to achieve environmental sustainability. The UN … Continue reading →

Role of Artificial Intelligence in Environmental Sustainability

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In recent years, the environmental issues have triggered debates, discussions, awareness programs and public outrage that have catapulted interest in new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence finds application in a wide array of environmental sectors, including natural resource conservation, wildlife protection, energy management, clean energy, waste management, pollution control and agriculture. Artificial Intelligence (also known as AI) is considered to be the biggest game-changer in the global economy. With its gradual increase in scope and application, it is estimated that by 2030, AI will contribute up to 15.7 trillion of the global economy which is more than the … Continue reading →

Solid Waste Management in Bahrain

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The Kingdom of Bahrain is an archipelago of around 33 islands, the largest being the Bahrain Island. The population of Bahrain is around 1.2 million marked by population density of 900 persons per km2, which is the highest in the entire GCC region. The country has the distinction of being one of the highest per capita waste generators worldwide which is estimated at 1.67 – 1.80 kg per person per day. Infact, Bahrain produces largest amount of waste per person among GCC countries despite being the smallest nation in the region. Rising population, high waste generation growth rate, limited land … Continue reading →

Solid Waste Management in Saudi Arabia

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Saudi Arabia has been witnessing rapid industrialization, high population growth rate and fast urbanization which have resulted in increased levels of pollution and waste. Solid waste management is becoming a big challenge for the government and local bodies with each passing day. With population of around 29 million, Saudi Arabia generates more than 15 million tons of solid waste per year. The per capita waste generation is estimated at 1.5 to 1.8 kg per person per day. More than 75 percent of the population is concentrated in urban areas which make it necessary for the government to initiate measures to … Continue reading →

A Glance at Plastics Recycling

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Plastic consumption has grown at a tremendous rate worldwide, and Middle East is no exception. Plastics now play an increasingly important role in all aspects of modern life. and used in the manufacture of all sorts of items including protective packaging, mobile phones, domestic appliances, furniture items, medical devices etc. Each year around 1trillon plastic bags are used worldwide with most of them ending up in landfills, dumpsites and water bodies. Due to the rising demand, the global plastic consumption is expected to reach 300 million tons by 2015. Per capita consumption of plastics in the GCC is estimated to be 33kg per annum … Continue reading →

Solid Waste Management in Oman

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Solid waste management is a challenging issue for the Sultanate of Oman because of limited land availability and adverse impacts on environment and public health. With population of almost 3.9 million inhabitants, Oman generates more than 1.7 million tons of solid waste each year. The average per capita waste generation is more than 1.2 kg per day, which is equivalent to about 4700 tons of municipal waste every day. Solid waste in Oman is characterized by very high percentage of recyclables, primarily paper and cardboard (15%), plastics (20.9%), metals (1.8%) and glass (4%) (Source: Waste Characterization and Quantification Survey, Be’ah, 2013). However the country is … Continue reading →

تحسين الوضع الاقتصادي للمجتمعات عن طريق تعزيز مشاريع إعادة التدوير

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   تعتبر البلديات و المجالس المحلية المسئول المباشر عن إدارة ملف النفايات الصلبة في المدن حول العالم للحفاظ على المدن نظيفة. ففي الوقت التي تحتل فيه التكنولوجيا المتوفرة (جمع النفايات، النقل، إعادة التدوير، التخزين، المعالجة)، تزداد النداءات الدولية لإعادة النظر إلى مجال إدارة النفايات الصلبة كأداة لحل العديد من المشاكل الاقتصادية، الإجتماعية، و البيئية. و من هذه الأصوات الرئيس الأمريكي السابق "بيل كلينتون" عندما صرح في المؤتمر السنوي لمبادرة كلينتون العالمية عام 2010 " إذا أردتم محاربة التغير المناخي، تحسين الصحة العامة، إيجاد فرص عمل للفقراء و خلق مناخ مناسب للروّاد، فإن أفضل الطرق للوصول لهذا الشيئ هو إغلاق مكبات النفايات" … Continue reading →

Trash Talk from Gaza

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Solid waste management is considered to be one of the most severe environmental and civic problems in the Gaza Strip. Solid waste in the Gaza strip consists mainly of household waste, building debris, agricultural waste, industrial waste (mainly from worksites), medical wastes, and wastes from car workshops. Solid waste in the Gaza Strip is dumped in the same landfill without separation except for medical waste, which is dumped separately in the main Gaza landfill site. The solid waste generation rate varies between 0.35 to 1.0 kg/capita/day. Scale of the Problem Trash generation in the Gaza Strip varies between 830 to 894 tons/day … Continue reading →