Qatar- Waste management: A critical need of our time

YGone are the days when waste management was an issue of no concern to the public. Now it has become a major problem that everyone has to deal with because continued ignorance has taken and will continue to take a heavy toll in terms of our health well-being and environmental pollution. According to a recent report by the United Nations Environmental Programme “Managing solid waste well and affordably is one of the key challenges of the 21st century and one of the key responsibilities of a city government.”

Most of us don’t realize full severity of the problem–we conveniently put our trash in a plastic bag place it outside our home forget what happens to it afterwards and let the municipality worry about the rest. For a majority of people the problem of waste disposal ends with the trash pickup. This approach that was an accepted societal norm of the past is no more tenable because what happens to the trash after it is picked up and until its permanent disposal and even decades afterward is a story that few are aware of; and only a handful realize the horrible health and ecological consequences of not managing the waste in a proper manner. This article aims at presenting some basic aspects of waste management its importance to our society and how each member of the community can be a part of the solution to the “waste problem” that is posing a serious challenge to both the developed and developing countries worldwide.

The first thing we have to recognize is that the garbage that comes out of our homes is not a simple mixture of ordinary materialspaper plastic metal cans food waste packaging materials etc. It also contains discarded batteries paints cleaning supplies electronics and many other items that contain toxic chemicals and cause serious damage to human health and the environment. Such items comprise up to 30% of the garbage and need to be disposed of in properly engineered and secure disposal facilities to prevent its release into water land and air.

Landfill is a good example of a well-engineered waste disposal facility. Unlike a ‘hole in the ground’ landfills are designed and constructed under full compliance with the applicable environmental regulations giving due consideration to site geology that includes topography nature of earth materials and their engineering properties depth to groundwater and evaluation of natural hazards. This is followed by meticulous engineering design and construction to ensure safe operation and maintenance of the landfill; and to safely collect remove and treat the leachate—a toxic soup of dissolved metals non-metals dangerous chemicals and other harmful substances. The design also ensures that the garbage is covered with suitable soil at the end of each day’s work to prevent its exposure to the weather pest vermin etc. This technique of isolating the waste is what makes the landfill“sanitary” and such well-designed and engineered landfills are appropriately called sanitary landfills.

One of the key aspects of the waste issue is lack of public awareness and the prevalent attitude that garbage is a dirty business and “out of sight out of mind” is the best approach to manage it. The reality is quite the opposite: with each person producing 1.7 kg of waste every day Qatar municipality has an enormous task of collecting hauling and disposingnearly 4000 tons of waste every single day. If we place this much waste in a soccer field it will fill 15 of them to a height of 10m each day. Obviously we have to do everything possible to reduce the volume of the waste. A proven way is to use the hierarchy of the 3Rs which stands for Reduce Reuse and Recycle. The first and the foremost step is to reduce our use of materials–we should buy and use only as much as we need so that there is no unused or unwanted stuff that will find its way into the trash can. The second R emphasizes cutting down and eliminating use of disposal items. Instead of using plastic bag for grocery shopping we should use reusable cloth bag; instead of one-time use of throw away batteries we should switch to rechargeable ones. Substituting disposable paper and plastic cups and plates with reusable and durable plastic or ceramic dinner- silver- and glass ware will go a long way in prolonging the life of landfills and also help conserve natural resources. Recycling is the last of the three ‘Rs’ which is self-explanatory: of the discarded materials we should take out all that can be recycled. Paper plastics metals cans used clothes furniture and electronics that have not reached their end-of-life stage should be routinely recycled.

This simple idea can be adopted by everyone and therein lies the value of this strategy. By implementing 3Rs in our daily life we should also be able to conserve valuable natural resources used to manufacture steel autos construction materials and all other industrial and consumer goods thereby assuring long-term availability of the limited mineral and energy resources while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions by leaving more trees to absorb CO2.

Each resident of Qatar produces between 1.6 to 1.8 kg of solid waste on a daily basis which puts us as one of the top most waste generators among the high income countries of the world. With continued development of the country and using a conservative estimate of the annual population growth rate of about 2.5% Qatar’s waste quantity is estimated to increase to over 4730 tons per day by 2030—an increase of 21%. This is a huge increase compared to other developed countries (e.g. USA: 12%) and highlights the critical but urgent need for adoption of 3Rs across all segment of the Qatari society. This can be accomplished by a sustained program of public education media publicity; competition and incentives for waste reduction and increased recycling in educational institutions government offices private businesses and homes; and possibly imposing fee for exceeding permitted number of trash bags generated by home owners.

A sound and well-implemented waste management policy can lead to zero waste.If each of us does our part we can make the Earth livable for our future generations!