Cutting plastic waste essential for Kuwait’s sustainable development goals: Environmentalist

Cutting plastic waste essential for Kuwait’s sustainable development goals: Environmentalist

By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: According to the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, the amount of plastic waste in Kuwait is estimated at about 18 percent of total solid waste, or around 200,000 tons annually. Member of the Board of Directors of Kuwait Environment Protection Society Jenan Bahzad spoke to Kuwait Times about the importance of reducing the use of plastics and its dangers to the environment.

“Every year, according to scientific and field studies, more than 8 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans, which causes damage to marine life, fisheries and tourism, and incurs losses to the world of at least $8 billion due to the damage it causes to marine ecosystems,” Bahzad said, adding 80 percent of all trash floating in our oceans is plastic waste. “With the current rate of dumping of waste such as single-use plastic cans, plastic bags and cups in the oceans, by 2050 the oceans will carry more plastic than fish and 99 percent of seabirds will have ingested plastic waste,” she said.

500 billion

Bahzad said global reports estimated the world uses around 500 billion plastic bags every year, but the danger lies in the way of disposing them, as they mostly end up