Environment authority to combat plastic pollution through circular economy: Official

Environment authority to combat plastic pollution through circular economy: Official

By Nebal Snan

KUWAIT: The Environment Public Authority is planning to concentrate its efforts in transitioning Kuwait’s economy to a circular model to protect the environment, said the authority’s Acting Director General Samira Al-Kandari. “We must recycle plastic waste and reduce the use of plastic due to its dangerous effects on people’s health, the environment, ecological systems and world economy,” Kandari told reporters during an event held to mark World Environment Day.

In a circular economy, markets give incentives for reusing products, rather than scrapping them and then extracting new resources, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. “In such an economy, all forms of waste, such as clothes, scrap metal and obsolete electronics, are returned to the economy or used more efficiently.

This can provide a way to not only protect the environment, but use natural resources more wisely, develop new sectors, create jobs and develop new capabilities,” reads the organization’s website. According to the authority, the amount of plastic waste produced annually is estimated at 314 tons, 13 percent of which is solid waste.

Kandari said eight percent of solid waste in the country gets recycled. She said the authority will focus on supporting “technology, reusing, manufacturing and recycling,