COLOUR-CODED biodegradable rubbish bags could be distributed to homes and businesses across the country in a bid to promote recycling and tackle rising domestic and industrial waste.
The proposal has been presented by Southern Municipal Council services and public utilities committee chairman Abdulla Abdullatif.
It will see trash separated into food, plastic, glass, paper and metal, before being dumped in coloured bins that would be introduced alongside the regular grey dumpsters.
The proposal is set for debate during the council’s upcoming meeting.
“Municipalities already give 30 black biodegradable rubbish bags to households every month,” said Mr Abdullatif.
“We also want coloured bags to be distributed.
“Blue bags could be used for paper, yellow for plastic and red for glass – and these could be discarded in dumpsters of the same colour placed across neighbourhoods.
“Black bags could still be utilised for food waste.”
In 2017, parliament dropped an entire chapter on recycling from the Cleanliness Law. It would have seen punishments imposed for failure to sort waste, but MPs said at the time that people first needed to familiarise themselves with the concept before regulating the practice.
One of the omitted articles stated that those who do not separate recyclable waste would be penalised by law.
“Over the years, we have missed several opportunities to start recycling in residences and commercial establishments,” said council chairman Bader Al Tamimi.
“Bahrain’s two cleaning companies – Urbaser Bahrain and Gulf City Cleaning Company (GCCC) – could pay households that collect items for recycling, depending on their market prices and weight. Cleaning companies would save time sorting waste since it would be done by residents,” he added.
“Hafeera landfill has reached its peak storage because, in my opinion, it was mismanaged over the years with piles of waste buried without consideration of its potential recycling value.”
The 2019 Cleanliness Law punishes all types of littering with fines ranging between BD50 and BD300, while fines of between BD500 and BD1,000 will be issued for transporting rubbish or dangerous substances without a licence or proper equipment.
The government has started giving out biodegradable rubbish bags to Bahrainis as the country moves towards a more sustainable future. The switch was made after banning the production of single-use plastic bags and import of non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2019.
Environmentalists have welcomed the development, particularly after the GDN revealed that the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry dispensed 34.5 million bin bags every year.
Minister Essam Khalaf told Parliament last year that plans were underway to open a tendering process for a new landfill site, hi-tech waste-to-energy complex and to introduce home waste management procedures in the new Salman and East Hidd Housing Towns.
Bahrain has already initiated 29 ‘rapid action’ plans, 90 short-term projects, 27 medium-term policies and 34 long-term strategies to manage the country’s waste.
Mr Khalaf believes as each phase of the plan is introduced, the amount of waste being dumped in Hafeera landfill nearby Askar – which now stretches to 2.83km – will decrease.
Mr Khalaf had also indicated that a green-waste recycling plant could be set up by 2040 with the aim of recycling 52 per cent of all general waste. The minister said a blueprint for bio-waste management and recycling of electronics and batteries would also be drawn up in future.
Around 1.8m tonnes of waste are being dumped in Hafeera annually.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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