Nawaf Al-Muwail, coordinator of training programs at the Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Environmental Training at the Kuwait Environment Protection Society, confirmed that the visit of the Society’s members to the “Our Environment” factory for recycling plastic waste of all kinds came to learn about the manufacturing cycle and the best ways to cooperate with the factory management to receive the “Green Schools” program in its twelfth session for the current academic year within the annual plan of the program.
Al-Muwail said, “Given that plastic is one of the least expensive and lightest materials, which is formed into a variety of products used in a wide range of applications, and is always readily available, the association seeks, through its awareness programs, to reduce plastic consumption and replace short-life plastics, which are disposed of within a year of manufacturing, with environmentally friendly alternatives that have a longer lifespan.”.
He pointed out that “a large portion of the plastic produced each year is used in the manufacture of single-use packaging materials or other short-life products that are disposed of within a year of manufacturing, which means that our current use of plastic is not sustainable, and knowledge of its types helps to reduce the accumulation of large quantities of it that have reached the end of their lifespan as debris in landfills and in natural habitats around the world.”.
He added: “Recycling is one of the most important actions currently available to reduce these impacts and represents one of the most dynamic areas in the plastics industry today. We briefly put recycling in context versus other waste reduction strategies, namely reducing material use by reducing weight or reusing the product, and using alternative biodegradable materials.”.
Nawaf Al-Muwaile explained, “While plastic has been recycled globally since the 1970s, the quantities recycled vary geographically, depending on the type of plastic and the application. Recycling of packaging materials has seen rapid expansion over the past decades in a number of countries. Advances in technologies and systems for collecting, sorting, and reprocessing recyclable plastics are creating new recycling opportunities, and with joint action from the public, industry, and governments, it may be possible to divert the majority of plastic waste from landfills to recycling.”.
