By the time it's 2022, Qatar, in line with its stance on sustainable development, is planning on recycling of the solid waste the country generates.

According to a document of Qatar Second National Development Strategy (NDS2), “As the infrastructure works of the FIFA World Cup and related demolition and rebuilding of enterprises is nearing completion, the generated amount of construction waste is expected to decrease.”

“Moreover, the State is making significant efforts to increase the waste recycling rate and promote environmental awareness on reducing the quantity of domestic solid waste, making it possible to achieve the target of recycling 15 percent of solid waste over the course of the NDS-2,” added the document.

As compared to other countries, Qatar has done quite well in the area of domestic waste generation. It has been successful in keeping the level of domestic waste at lower levels than some of other countries. The generation rate of household solid waste is estimated at 2.1-4.1 kilogram (kg) per capita per day in GCC countries, 1.2 in the US, and 4.1 in European Union countries, compared to 1.6 kg per person per day in Qatar.

Domestic solid waste usually consists of different proportions of organic matter (food waste, etc), paper, plastics, glass, metals, fabrics, bones, leather, home dust, etc. Domestic solid waste is the second largest source of waste after construction waste in Qatar.

The generation of total solid waste (construction, domestic and others) increased from eight million tonnes in 2008 to 12 million tonnes in 2013. After that, there has been a steady decline with 9.8 million tonnes in 2014 and this continued to fall to 7.7 million tonnes in 2015. The main reason behind thi fall is a declining production of construction waste that constitutes 70-80 percent of the waste.

Statistics for 2012 also show that approximately 3-6 percent of total solid waste was recycled, according to the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics data.

The total waste generated in the country has declined by around 32 per cent since 2011. According to the ‘Second Voluntary National Review, 2018’, the total waste declined from about 12.1 million tonnes in 2011 to about 8.2 million tonnes in 2017.

The government gives special attention to waste management and treatment, due to its keenness to reduce the effects of waste on health, maintain a civic view of the country, and promote waste reduction practices.

Standard recyclable materials include glass, paper, cardboard, metals, plastics, tires, textiles and electronics. A high proportion of construction waste, especially cement, brick and tile waste, is fully suitable for crushing and recycling as a replacement of gravel extracted from new quarries in some lower applications.

Qatar’s Second National Development Strategy (2018-2022) includes many goals that seek to ensure sustainable consumption and encourage efficient use of natural resources.

One of the goals is to preserve and develop water resources by reducing the total losses of potable water and reducing the per capita consumption of water by 15 per cent through the National Program for Conservation and Energy Efficiency by 2020. It also aims to reduce the depletion of groundwater and the development of the aquifer and strengthen the integrated management of water and electricity and reduce the rate of consumption of electricity per capita by eight per cent through Tarsheed.

What do you think of this goal of Qatar? Is it attainable? How are you protecting the environment? Do you recycle your waste? Do let us know in our Comments section. Like and share the article - it keeps us going!

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Nabeela

Content Writer

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