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Doha: Municipal authorities will provide waste containers to all households in Qatar in next five years, in a bid to segregate waste at source, said an official.
The programme by the Ministry of Municipality aims to boost recycling for sustainability and circular economy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. “The distribution of trash cans is expected to start from June this year,” Director of General Cleanliness Department, Muqbil Madhour Al Shammari told The Peninsula.
He said that the distribution of trash cans will initially launch in Doha and expand to rest part of the country within two years from 2023 to 2025 or maximum 5 years.
He said the programme aims to place trash cans at homes and educate people to dispose of waste after sorting it and provide vehicles for collecting the sorted waste.
He said two types of trash cans will be provided to households. “Gray container will be for food waste (organic waste) and blue container for recyclable materials. The trash cans will be of different sizes as per the need and will be placed outside the homes.”
He said modern equipment and devices have been installed at recycling factories to segregate the recyclable materials. “In the beginning, only two containers will be provided because it is easy to handle for companies collecting the wastes and the households,” said Al Shammari.
“We might think to provide a container for each recyclable material when we will be ready to do so, such as required vehicles and staff with enough knowledge of recyclable materials.”
He said the department will launch an awareness programme in multiple languages to reach the maximum number of people.
“A team from the department will be assigned to communicate with those handling waste at homes, educating them on how to use the trash cans properly. With intensified awareness campaigns, we are pretty sure to influence behaviour of people convincing them to make their contribution in the initiative,” he said.
He said segregation of waste at source brings many economical, environmental and health benefits.
Following Qatar National Vision 2030, the Ministry of Municipality is running a waste sorting at source programme. The programme aims at reducing the amount of waste, managing the environment in a way that ensures harmony and consistency between economic and social development and environmental protection.
The purpose of the programme is also to preserve natural resources for future generations, and using recyclable materials to reduce the demand for raw materials, and support the private sector by providing them with recyclable materials.
