What a Waste!

Civil authorities have cleared a massive 22000 tonnes of domestic waste in Northern Governorate this year, that too in the first two months alone, it was revealed. Officials further revealed that this is in addition to the 4,000 tonnes of construction waste and 6500 tonnes of agricultural waste generated by the governorate during the months of January and February. “In total, we cleared a total of 34,000 tonnes of waste from the governorate with household waste amounting a greater chunk of it,” a municipality representative said.

During inspections, the authorities also detected several violations related to dumping of construction waste in empty plots. “Notifications were served to a total of 137 violators during January and February,” the official said adding: “84 of them were for dumping construction waste, 15 for violations regarding agricultural waste, 29 for cleanliness issues and nine for sewage violations.”

Bahrain is currently rolling out a new waste management strategy in all its governorates following a study conducted by the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning last year through Estidama - a waste management centre under the Ministry. “The waste is growing as the population expands, which also requires updating our waste management strategy,” an Estidama representative said.

Tribune previously reported, citing official statistics by the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, that the country produces 1,773,107 tonnes of waste a year. Of which, 559,053 tonnes were from households, 313,362 were commercial and 82,006 were industrial. Green waste or biodegradable waste amounted to 125,306 tonnes. Building waste amounted to 684,610 tonnes.