World Cup" Waste" Is Under Control

Engineer Hamad Jassim Al-Bahr - Director of the Waste Recycling and Treatment Department at the Ministry of Municipality, confirmed that the department is working hard with the General Hygiene Department to transfer all waste during the 2022 World Cup to the treatment center, to be fully utilized, within the framework of the ministry’s plan for the safe disposal of these wastes.

Al-Bahr indicated that an actual experiment was conducted in the 2021 Arab Cup, and 40% of the materials produced in the stadiums were sorted, 60% were converted into electrical energy, and the local network was fed from the energy produced, knowing that in the previous World Championships in Russia only 12 were sorted. 8% and the rest was transferred to their landfills.

He also said that the Al-Afja Recycling Industries area includes approximately 90 plots of land, 50 of which have been allocated for recycling, meaning that the number of factories allocated to land in the Al-Afja area has reached 50 factories, which carry out many activities, including recycling tires, metals, medical waste, and electronics. Fertilizers, glass, construction waste, wood, oil, plastic, batteries, paper, and aluminum, noting that a symbolic amount has been set to support these factories in terms of rent, compared to the rest of the other regions in which the factories operate.

In a related context, the Ministry of Municipality launched the "Zero Waste" campaign.

Many parties such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and other ministries participated in the campaign, in addition to signing cooperation agreements between the Ministry of Municipality and other entities to sort waste from the source and not transfer it to the landfill, and to benefit from these materials in the upcoming factories. The municipalities also cooperated together in this awareness campaign, The parks also launched campaigns and posters in public parks.

It is worth noting that the Second Waste Management Conference and Exhibition will be organized under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, Minister of Municipality, on June 13 and 14, 2022 at the Sheraton Doha Hotel, which will constitute a platform to attract governmental and semi-governmental institutions, the private sector, and local factories to communicate and exchange ideas and knowledge about waste management, treatment, and recycling.

The most important feature of the conference, according to the opinion of Engineer Hamad Jassim Al-Bahr, is that it addresses all segments of society, in addition to addressing researchers, companies, institutions, and ministries from an academic point of view.

He said: "We expected and hoped for a lot of agreements to be signed during the conference, and memoranda of understanding in this regard."

He also pointed out that the Waste Management Conference and Exhibition, in its second edition, will discuss 7 main themes,

Among the important topics that the conference will discuss are a new technology in collecting and separating waste from the source, reducing and treating food waste, reducing and treating agricultural waste, as well as discussing waste management challenges in times of crisis, waste management in developed countries, and best practices, and speakers from countries will participate in the conference advanced, including France, Germany, and Japan.