UOB and the British Embassy Organize the “Waste Management Forum”

The President of the University of Bahrain (UOB), Prof. Riyad Yousif Hamzah, stressed the importance of focusing on global solutions to face the threat of waste on the environment, and ways to reduce the quantities of waste produced annually to reduce its negative and destructive effects, pointing out that the waste problem is one of the global challenges that researchers and experts around the world try to find better ways to manage it.

In cooperation with the British Embassy, UOB organized the “Waste Management” Forum, which was held on Sunday (16 February 2020) at the E-Learning Center at UOB in Sakhir, in the presence of the British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Rudi Drummond, and the Executive Chairman of the Supreme Council for the Environment, Dr. Mohammed Mubarak bin Dainah, and a number of researchers, interested persons and faculty members at the University, with the participation of a number of speakers from prestigious and distinguished British universities in the field of waste management, in addition to speakers from UOB and a number of private universities in the Kingdom.

The British ambassador presented the UK’s experience in facing the dangers of increasing the amount of waste, and possible solutions to reduce its quantities, stressing the importance of joint cooperation between the UK and the Kingdom of Bahrain in the field of possible solutions for waste management.

For his part, the Executive Chairman of the Supreme Council for the Environment, Dr. Mohammed Mubarak bin Dainah, explained waste issues in Bahrain, the local challenges in facing the escalating increase in the amount of waste, and methods of treating or disposing of it according to its type.

While the Head of the Physics Department at UOB, Dr. Hanan Mubarak Al-Buflasa, stated that “The Kingdom of Bahrain produces 1.8 million tons of waste annually, which is the highest in the Gulf,” noting that there are four companies accredited by the Supreme Council for the Environment to sort and treat waste and recycle it if possible.

Furthermore, Dr. Al-Buflasa referred to the initiative of UOB to transform into a zero-waste university, meaning the total elimination of waste, pointing to the University providing a number of special containers for waste sorting, including those for papers, plastics, and metals, with the hope of spreading a greater number of these containers all over the university, especially in gathering spaces, with the aim of spreading the culture of sorting and reducing the volume of waste production. Also, she stated that “UOB has a huge number of students, so if we succeed in educating this student population, we have succeeded in sending a clear message to the community of the importance of preserving the environment and eliminating waste.”

She further added that “There are initiatives and personal efforts by individuals in the community, who seek to sort waste, which is evidence of the existence of a culture of waste sorting in the Bahraini society.”