Iraq seeks to recycle and benefit from solid waste
A municipal worker drives a shovel machine to extinguish a fire inside the garbage at a rubbish dump in Baghdad. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi authorities are seeking to accelerate solid waste recycling, which accumulated in huge quantities in the capital, Baghdad, and other cities.
The overwhelming chaos that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the security tensions contributed to the exacerbation of the waste problem.
Iraq still lacks waste recycling plants to benefit from this economic wealth.
According to statistics issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Environment, the amount of waste collected reached 11 million tons annually. This motivated officials in the Ministry of Environment to launch a waste recycling project.
Baghdad is the most Iraqi governorate producing solid waste. The improved living conditions and the population increase contributed to an increased consumption.
An official in the Iraqi Environment Ministry told Sky News Arabia that the government made efforts to prepare a draft law for recycling solid waste to become an economic resource.
Muhammad al-Zubaidi, a professor of science at the University of Technology in Baghdad, said that the awareness of the Iraqi people needs to be raised to consider waste a national wealth, adding that Iraq needs legislations and policies that encourage investment, Sky News Arabia mentioned.
Failure to use the correct scientific methods in facing the danger of solid waste exacerbated the problem in cities, especially the capital, Baghdad.