JEDDAH -- People in Saudi Arabia are not yet familiar with the three-curved-arrow logo that indicates that a plastic or paper container can be recycled, a recent poll by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) employees showed.
To raise awareness on environmental issues, a group of environmental activists gathered recently to organize a campaign under the title "Recycle Your City".
"Jeddah is a dirty city," said Noura Al-Turki, a founding member of the campaign. "We have sewage problems. Trash is everywhere. We have a problem in waste management and so we need to solve these problems first before telling people about recycling. Recycling seems very trivial to the local people compared to better trash removal."
Other founding members of the campaign are: Mariam Baydoun, Suhaila Baarma, Anwar Abul Khair, Khaikha Bakerman, Moath Al-Dabbagh, Nuha Mahdi and Nour Fityani. The drive gathered momentum after Al-Turki connected with an online group of environmental activists led by Fityani to organize recycling program at the JCCI under the aegis of its Environmental Committee. The members of the drive are pushing for a municipal recycling program, including having special bins for recyclables.
The awareness campaign is set to launch tomorrow with a speech by Jeddah Mayor Adel Fakieh on recycling as a solution to the solid waste management.
The campaign aims to implement the program first through educating the public on relevant matters to starting a recycling program, such as citizens separating glass, plastic and cardboard from the rest of their trash. The first phase in this process is for offices and schools to develop an internal system to support the campaign, said Al-Turki, specifically mentioning recycling paper waste.
"Usually organizations sign contracts with recycling companies. The problem is that the employees at these organizations do not have necessary awareness to put their paper waste in separate bins. What we do is we start the campaign internally so the employees would start sorting their trash and use recycling bins (for reclaimable paper)," Al-Turki said.
The reason for focusing initially on paper recycling is that paper is the most common waste. Al-Turki said that the group is going for a high-impact recycling program first. Later, other forms of recycling could be phased in. Recycling programs in Europe, for example, provide separate bins for plastic, glass and paper waste -- and recycling is mandatory there: Citizens are subject to municipal fines for not sorting out their garbage.
Al-Turki says that any recycling program would require government support and advocacy. "We also need local support from the government, private companies and recycling companies," she said. "We need the local governments to put in place the necessary infrastructure to have recyclables picked up from homes."
The group members hope that this campaign does not pass off as a temporary event. They aim to make it an active environmental movement. "The problem is that there is no coordination between the different efforts in this field. Once we are linked we could have a stronger voice and a better impact," she said.
Those who are interested to participate in the campaign could send their information to recycle@jcci.org.sa.
By Lulwa Shalhoub
© Arab News 2008
