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To start a composting It is important that your scheme at home heap should not yourself: become a rubbish heap, therefore the pile should be kept tidy and compact. This will ™ Create a basic enclosure also aid in retaining heat and or heap away from the moisture which is vital for house. decomposition. ™ Keep a small airtight container in the kitchen Another reason for keeping the for and empty this site tidy is to avoid problems daily into the pile. with pests as well as ™ Each week place your neighbourhood pets. The garden and lawn construction of an enclosure clippings onto the pile. on the ground that still allows the movement of air and

earthworms into the pile Include: Grass clippings, usually overcomes this kitchen , fruit and problem. vegetable peelings, left over pet food, shredded prunings, For best results maintain tea leaves and bags, coffee maximum aeration. This can be grinding’s, indoor plant achieved by placing the cuttings, egg shells, manure, coarser substances at the weeds, hair, cooking oils and bottom and then building up vacuum cleaner dust. with finer materials.

Avoid: Large branches, meat, In addition, mix low nitrogen fat, whole bones, , waxy materials such as straw, plant material, underground sawdust, and plant cuttings stems or any diseased or with high nitrogen materials pesticide-contaminated plant such as food scraps, lawn material. Of course, glass, clippings, weeds and leaves. plastic, paper, empty batteries, chemicals, paint, and expired The decomposition will vary medicine do not belong here. with the content of the heap as The reason for avoiding well as the season, but after a diseased and contaminated couple of months the material plant material is to prevent the should be ready for use. spreading of these diseases and contaminants through your garden.

34 It is also possible to construct Some of these units are your own composting unit available at hardware stores, using a 200 litre (44 gallon) nurseries and some drum with holes cut in the department stores. The prices bottom and sides to allow for for units vary depending on the aeration. By placing a large size and model you desire. hole or door at the bottom of the drum you can have a continuous system where material is added at the top and fertilizer removed at the bottom. composting There are commercial soil improvement composting units available and garbage reduction these range from concrete, plastic or wooden boxes to plastic or metal bins with tight fitting lids.

COMPOST HEAP Let worms work!

Just put in the organic kitchen and garden .

The worms, bacteria and fungi turn it to fertile soil.

35 BIN FOR OR GANI C KITCHEN WASTE

36 5. Paper

Paper is produced from The pulping process uses plant material by breaking huge amounts of energy and down the fibre to produce the bleaching stage pulp. This pulp, which is produces dioxin, which is mostly derived from wood- one of the most toxic chips, is bleached using chemicals on earth. chlorine, and mixed with water. After the water is removed a matted sheet of paper remains.

Present situation in Qatar

We recycle virtually none of In Qatar tonnes of paper is this paper, which is dumped each year. This is significantly less than other the equivalent of millions of countries such as Japan, trees. which recycle over 50% of their overall paper. All this paper occupies large In Qatar we need to import areas of and is all of our paper to satisfy our becoming a waste manage- growing demand. ment nightmare.

Since the introduction of the photocopier and computer, the demand for paper has Over 70% of all school increased dramatically. This waste is paper. In fact, is contrary to what we Qatar schools produce expected when the technological revolution thousands of tonnes of began, and the so-called paper waste each year. paperless schoolroom was being promoted.

37 Unfortunately presently very By recycling paper over 40% little is recycled. The irony is of the energy used to pulp that there is a strong raw materials can be saved. international market for In fact, by not recycling your quality waste paper, with daily newspaper you are high prices being paid for wasting the equivalent used computer and energy of one cup of petrol. photocopy paper. Some suggestions for decreasing our paper demand would be:

Paper recyclers are keen to collect as much high-grade quality paper as possible.

This paper must be of a similar grade, clean and uncontaminated by plastic,

wire, or other matter. ™ to use both sides of Generally most paper paper; collected is recycled into ™ paper for paperboard, although the note taking and high quality paper is used to ™ recycle all paper once produce printing and writing its been used. paper.

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Avoid recycling the following types of paper:

carbon paper gummed labels sweet wrappers facial tissues waxed paper cigarette packets paper cups and plates paper towels lunch bags windowed envelopes milk or drink cartons Like all recyclable products, paper must be sorted and Paper clips and staples need not be contaminated. These not be removed as these will contaminants may vary but settle in the pulping stage of by using the following recycling the paper. guidelines most problems can be avoided. Paper packaging can also be recycled, as long as there is Recycle the following types no plastic coating or other of paper: contamination such as grease or food residues writing and photocopy paper present. Cardboard boxes bond stock (all forms) are recyclable, but need to notepaper be flattened and sorted from white envelopes other types of paper waste. binder dividers index cards or sheets The increased use of plain manilla folders and waxed coatings computer printouts on many types of packaging cards reports is a major obstacle for paper writing pads and scribblers recycling, as these products telephone directories contaminate the paper and newspapers. make it worthless.

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The collected cardboard is pressed in Qatar and sold overseas for recycling

40 Some paper collected for The production of news- recycling (usually low-grade paper from virgin material paper such as cardboard requires mechanical pulping - and newsprint) is in high which uses lots of energy. demand in other Gulf States such as the United Arab The same newspaper made Emirates. from waste paper does not require as much pulping and + Because householders do therefore saves energy. not produce sufficient amounts of waste paper, they generally do not receive Because of its low grade, it any payment for their is important to keep recyclable paper, however, newspaper separated from some environmental groups higher grades of paper, as are able to centrally collect this increases the value of and sell household paper for the higher grades and makes a profit to paper recyclers. recycling simpler.

However, it is the school and office paper and cardboard packaging that is mostly There are cur- sought by the recycling rently several industry, and they are willing new recycled pa- to pay big money for it. per products on the market. For more information on the collection of paper see chapter three How to Get By supporting these you will Started. help to generate a greater demand for recycled paper and the price for all these products will decrease. At present no Qatar newspaper uses recy- cled paper, despite a In addition, by supporting these recycled products you saving of up to 60% in will be helping to conserve energy being possible our natural resources and by doing so. reduce pollution locally and globally.

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*

How far can you reduce your paper consumption in school?

How far can you reuse the paper you need for school?

What kind of paper can you recycle?

42 6. Recycling Glass

Glass is one of our oldest Despite these benefits only manufactured products and 25% of glass is currently consists primarily of sand, recycled globally. soda ash and limestone, which is melted in a very hot Overall glass waste makes furnace to produce the vast up about 6% of Qatar array of glass products that rubbish, with each of us we now use everyday. discarding over 33 kg per year. Glass has excellent potential for being recycled: For example, the amount of sand that went into the ™ In fact a glass bottle making of all this discarded could be recycled for- glass could fill a beach to a ever. length of 1 kilometre and to ™ By recycling glass we a depth of 1 metre. can save over one third of the energy required to Every year in Qatar tonnes produce glass from raw of glass is dumped, materials. containing enough sand to produce millions of drink Collected used glass is bottles. This occurs mostly crushed and this is called because, unlike some other cullet. Every tonne of this countries Qatar presently cullet saves over 135 litres has few incentives to return of oil and replaces 1.2 empty bottles. tonnes of raw materials. using There are other benefits for crushed cullet began in the industry, such as a nineteen sixties and was reduction in stack emissions achieving good results until by 40% and increased the introduction of large furnace life due to the lower residential “big bins” or heat required to melt cullet. “mobile bins” in the early nineteen eighties. These big One of the major benefits is bins enabled people to throw that recycled glass is of out everything, including higher quality than glass recyclable goods such as made from raw materials. glass bottles & jars.

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At one time many glass Some Gulf States, are products were reusable - considering introducing a most milk bottles were filled compulsory deposit system over 27 times, but now the where all beverage only bottles that can be containers sold must be refilled are some home returned for refilling. delivered soft drink and beverage bottles. Some This system places an extra cities still use milk bottles, charge on the product at the but the increased use of point of sale, which is both cardboard and plastic refunded when the container containers has virtually is returned. This system has made milk bottles obsolete. successfully been adopted This is unfortunate because in Australia, and as a result, reusable bottles are over there is a 90 - 95% recovery 30% more energy efficient rate on cans and bottles. than disposable ones. The Australians also found Perhaps a similar system that the return system to return drink ¾ provided an additional containers in Qatar would be 1500 jobs a good idea? ¾ reduced by up to 90% and ¾ conserved energy and raw materials.

44 Glass Recycling Guide

For maximurn efficiency, glass must be sorted into colours for recycling. The main colours are brown, clear and green. In addition, you must distinguish between returnable bottles and recyclable glass to be melted. Rinse out all recyclable glass and remove the lids from bottles and jars. It is not necessary to remove the labels from bottles and jars as these are removed whilst being recycled. All glass can be recycled, including broken glass and medicine bottles.

Glass Collection Scheme

Glass manufactures are willing to pay for waste glass but the amount varies depending on the type of glass, and of course on how far you live from the glass factory.

In other countries most industrial recyclers will pick up glass from your home or school. These industries offer door to door collections, and other collect ions are also made by municipalities during general clean-ups. In some cities municipalities offer a bottle collection at the same time as the garbage pick up.

In addition to this bottle drop-off facilities at petrol stations and in shopping centre parks provide convienient collection points for community groups and charities, with the proceedings from the sale of the glass going to the local charity.

45 REFILLING PROCESS OF JUICE BOTTLES

BOXES WITH EMPTY BOTTLES ARE FOR YOUR DELIGHT THE BOTTLES ARE 1 DELIVERED FILLED WITH MIXED FRUIT JUICE 5

THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY …. FINALLY THEY ARE CLOSED...... 2 FIRST: TO BE OPENED 6

NEXT: TO BE WASHED IN THE BOTTLE WASHER ...... AND LABELLED 7 3 VOLUME: 6000 BOTTLES CLEANING PROCESS: 20 MINUTES

AND FOR HEALTH REASONS AND UNDERGO A LAST 4 TO BE STERILISED BY STEAM QUALITY CONTROL 8

46 7. Metal recycling Recycling: World steel production uses considerable amounts of energy in the form of oil, gas, coal and electricity.

The energy used every year to produce steel is equivalent to the entire energy available from all the Metal wastes make up over oil & gas produced in Qatar 4% of house-hold garbage. each year. We produce over 19 kg of metal waste each per year. By using scrap steel instead The waste is mainly made up of raw materials, up to two of steel used to make food thirds less energy is containers and consumed. used to hold soft drinks. Industry realises the savings Qatar residents dump possible and recycles much thousands of tonnes of of its waste steel, although metal waste each year and large amounts of steel are that is enough metal to make still dumped by house- thousands of new . holders.

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cars before and after being crushed and separated into recycable steel parts by the machine you can see in the background

48 Every year in the world In most countries steel cans billions of steel cans are are not purchased by produced, on average that is recyclers, simply because 390 cans per person which the quantities produced laid end to end, would go locally are not sufficient to around the earth ten times. make pick ups economically efficient. Unfortunately most of the billions of cans produced However, most steel each year are dumped. industries will recycle these These cans also contain cans as long as they are valuable tin, with every clean and de-labelled. tonne of cans containing up to 4 kg of tin coating. If large quantities are collected there may be some In order to recycle steel small payment made, but as cans, they must be clean most householders have and de-labeled. This is easily cans in small amounts, achieved by washing the payment is rare. cans at the same time as the dishes.

49 Aluminium Recycling:

Over the last few years the The first aluminium cans recovery rate for steel cans were introduced in the has been increasing. This is nineteen sixties. In the due to the local and nineteen eighties the international demand for average person in Qatar steel scrap and due to the used around 4 kg of increased cost of producing aluminium per year for steel from raw materials. For packaging, with 90% of this more detail on steel being used for beverage recycling see chapter nine cans. Each of us now uses Recycling Other Materials. over 189 aluminium cans per year.

By the late nineteen eighties of all cans produced in any billions of tonnes of year and resulted in payouts aluminium cans were being of millions of dollars to the recycled annually around the public (schools & charities). world. This was around 56%

50 Your aluminium can recycling project By recycling an aluminium can, up to 95% of the energy required to produce that can A great way to raise from raw can be money for your school or saved. local club would be to set up an aluminium can recycling For example, the amount of project. energy to smelt one tonne of bauxite could be used to melt down 20 tonnes of used You will need to have aluminium cans. It takes 45 specially marked bins for used cans to produce 38 “cans only” and form a recycled cans and it takes 54 committee who regularly cans to produce 1 kg of oversees the emptying of the aluminium. The price of bins and the crushing of the aluminium varies, with cans for latter transport to around one Riyal being paid the recycling centres. per kilo.

In addition to cans, If possible a manual can and bottle crusher could be attached to and jar lids are also the collecting bin. These can recyclable. crushers can be easily manufactured in a steel For efficiency ensure that workshop and consist cans are crushed for easy primarily of a steel pipe storage and other aluminium chamber in which each packaging does not have empty can is placed, and any contamination, such as have a long handled lever food residues, sticking to it. that lowers a round steel plug on to the can.

There should be no trouble The advantage with finding a collection centre having the can crusher for your collected attached to the bin is that it aluminium. Most community saves the committee having groups such as the to crush each can after Environment Friends Centre collection, and allows more have collecting points, and cans to fit into the collecting in addition some companies bin. An added advantage is in the industrial area accept that everybody has the fun aluminium trash. of crushing their own cans! 51 * Why not try to undertake an aluminium can recycling project at your school?

Form a committee of interested students and teachers,

make sure to involve the others by telling them about the do’s and don’ts of recycling aluminium,

don’t forget to get the cleaning staff involved.

Make sure that any money made by the sale of the aluminium goes to the wider student body. This will encourage all the students in the school to participate.

pressed aluminium cans for recycling

52 8.

Plastic was first used in the At best only around 3% of eighteen sixties as a all plastics manufactured are substitute for ivory and was currently recycled. Most made from plant material plastic recycling at present similar to paper. is undertaken by industry using their own off cuts and There are now over 60 waste. synthetic types of plastic and these are made from oil, natural gas, coal and salt. Over 50% of soft drinks are now packaged in plastic bottles known as PET. PET Each Qatari resident consumes up to 93 kg of stands for polyethylene plastic each year, which is terephthalate and these are mostly in the form of the familiar black bottomed packaging and throw-away and studded bottom plastic containers. drink bottles. Over 17 % of household garbage is plastic with packag- These bottles are widely ing accounting for most of the collected and recycled into overall plastic disposed of each year. industrial resin for fibre- glass, strapping tape and In fact, people in Qatar are among the biggest consumers carpet backing. Possible of packaging material in the other uses include filling for World. cold weather clothing and We discard millions of additives to plastic paints. disposable containers annual- In other countries around ly, and over 70% of these are short-term throw-away packag- 10% of all bottles made are es such as bags and fast food currently recycled. containers. This waste will continue as long as packaging costs do PLASTIC IS MADE not reflect the real costs of FROM: disposal, or of replacing the materials from which the OIL packaging is made. NATURAL GAS For example, a leading COAL supermarket distributes mil- SALT lions of plastic shopping bags every week, and each one of PET: POLYETHYLENE us collects over 350 of these TEREPHTALATE plastic bags per year.

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