“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden
We thanks to whole heartily the administration of Indian Educational School, Kuwait for showing interest in learning more about “Plastic Pollution and Ecobricks ” and arranged a wonderful and interactive session with School students from Class 6th to 9th. 100+ students participated in this online session. The session was conducted on 30th Sept 2021.
Team Rise Foundation delighted to share the problem of Plastic Waste in Kuwait and how the Kuwaiti desert & beaches are filled with plastic waste. The marine life is in danger because of these pollutants. Since the Country is situated near the Sea side, the route for traveling trash from surface to sea is easier. Some facts about Kuwait waste problem are as follows:
•Kuwait generates 1.5 kilograms of trash per person per day, twice the global average. •2 million tons of solid waste is generated annually •Approx 18 – 20% is plastic waste •90 per cent of waste – from food to sewage to petroleum – ends up in landfills
The total land area of Kuwait is around 17,820 sq. km, out of which more than 18 sq. km is occupied by landfills. Area of the landfill sites ranges from tens to hundreds of hectares with waste deposition depth varying from 3 to 30 meters.
Most of the landfill sites have been closed for more than 20 years due to operational problems and proximity to new residential, commercial and industrial areas. These sites include Sulaibiyah, Kabed, Al‐Qurain, Shuaiba, Jleeb AI Shuyoukh, West Yarmouk, AI Wafra among others. Migration of leachate beyond landfill site boundaries is a frequent problem noticed across Kuwait. Groundwater contamination has emerged as a serious problem because groundwater occurs at shallow depths throughout the country.
Kuwait’s enormous tyre graveyard is home more than 7 million end of life rubber tyres.Sulaibiya is an area within Kuwait which houses gigantic craters filled to the brim with worn tyres that have no use. After thousands of miles on the road, these old tyres end up piled up here and can now be seen from space.
There are many events visible on social media, which talks about how desert and marine are filled with plastic waste.
There are many steps are taken by the Kuwaiti Govt, but it is learnt that the plastic recycling facilities are not many in the country, which means, mostly waste is dumped into landfill, where it is ill effecting the environment.
In second past of the session, we shared the simple yet effective solution “Ecobricks”. Some students were aware about ecobricks, but their perception was that developing countries may required ecobricks solutions. We corrected them that the Single use and MLP plastic is used across globe and it is littering around in every country like anything, So one should not discriminate the solution based on per capita etc.. Since we are the generator of this waste, it is our duty to find and apply the solution.
Many students asked abut any possible bacteria which can eat or decompose plastic. After intriguing, we found that ” Ideonella sakaiensis is a bacterium from the genus Ideonella and family Comamonadaceae capable of breaking down and consuming the plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a sole carbon and energy source”. But this solution is yet not commercially available.
At the end, we got the feedback and Vote of thanks from Mr. T Premkumar, Certificates to Team Rise Foundation Mr. Madhukar Varshney and Munish Kundra.
We look forward to have some action from Kuwait on fighting plastic pollution and making ecobricks.
About IES Kuwait : Indian Educational School in Kuwait is a part of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, a premier institution of education in India. Dr- K. M Munshi, a far-sighted visionary and a practical idealist, who was also one of the chief members of India’s constituent assembly.
For more information , explore the link : http://bhavanskuwait.com/
To conduct such online or offline workshops, feel free to write us at mail2risefoundation@gmail.com or whatsapp at +91 9717764262
RISE Foundation (NGO) 