Management System of solid wastes in Kuwait

ADVANCED WASTEWATER
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Management System of solid wastes in Kuwait
Introduction
Waste management refers to a branch of science which deals with the monitoring and prevention
of wastes. It is important to note that all of us are responsible for environmental conservation. A
healthy environment which is attractive will lead to healthy people who occupy the same clean
environment. This is due to the fact that most of us will not be affected by the diseases that are
considered harmful and which may originate from the solid wastes. Most of the disease-causing
organisms will always use the damping sites of the solid wastes as their habitats. The data on the
waste management from Kuwait Central Statistical Bureau indicates an increasing pattern on the
solid waste accumulation. From such records, the largest composition of the wastes is made of
organic wastes.

Figure 1: Composition of waste in Kuwait(Zaman 2013)
Actually, they constitute over 50% of the total waste. In the second position are paperwork and
plastic with the constitution of 21% and 13 % respectively. There are several mechanisms that
are being put place by non-governmental and governmental instructions in Kuwait to manage
solid wastes. Currently, all the wastes are dumped randomly into the landfills without the
consideration of the environmental precautions and safety from the point of transportation and
collection. This is not considered in the last stage which is the use of landfill. The management is
however procedurally done with the first step being a collection and subsequent transportation of
wastes. This is normally done once or twice a day. Every management of such units is made up
of about 4-5 workers with a truck.
These initiatives are poorly managed by the municipalities since there is no material segregation
prior to their disposals and instead they are disposed of directly. Finally, the collected wastes are
undertaken through recycling or disposal of treatment. Unfortunately, the number of waste
recycling companies in Kuwait is very few. The few available companies also have limited
capacity that cannot cover large areas. The remaining portion undergoes treatment or disposal
depending on the composition. There are over sixteen landfills in Kuwait. Apparently, thirteen of
these landfills have been closed leaving behind only three to be operational. It is however very
unfortunate that none of the landfills meets the required standards and criteria of sanitary. The
wastes are therefore randomly dumped into the holes(Savadogo et al.2015).
The area coverage of the of landfills in Kuwait is around 45.5km2. This area coverage is
expected to increase to about 60km2 by the year 2025. Considering the issue of land shortage in
the country, only 25% of the country will bearable for use by the public. Over 75% of the land is