KUWAIT CITY, July 3: There are uncertainties surrounding the whereabouts of more than 13,000 tons of solid waste the country makes daily, since the government-appointed waste disposal company merely disposes off about 3,500 tons of the daily 16,800 tons of waste, reports Al-Rai daily.
Scientific researcher, Engineer Meshari Al-Mutairi, in a recent study revealed the Minister of Municipality Affairs, Dr Fadhel Safar, confirmed the company disposes off 3,500 tons of solid waste daily. He noted that improper disposal of waste is the major source of environmental degradation, and said results of a research he conducted in 2008 was different from data Kuwait Municipality and Kuwait University prepared, which stated that each individual makes about 1.4 kilogram of waste daily.
He is of the view that the Municipality should be spending a fortune to dispose off 16,800 tons of waste everyday rather than the 3,500 tons declared in 2008. He asserted that some officials may have used this means to misappropriate public funds, because disposing off 3,500 tons of waste daily should not cost more than KD 2,000,000.

He stressed the major difference in the quantity of waste disposed off per day and the actual wastes being produced could be attributable to inadequate monitoring of the waste disposal company, or perhaps the company has not been carrying out the assignment effectively.
Similarly, Engineer Al-Mutairi explained an opinion survey he carried out on recycling the waste in Kuwait with 1,500 Kuwaiti respondents across the six governorates of the country has three focal points. He said the first perspective was about the interest of citizens in recycling the solid waste, while the second opinion involved a study on waste disposal, and the third was about evaluating the level of treatment at the Al-Qurain Waste Dumping Site.

He stressed the majority of citizens supported the need to recycle solid wastes, as applicable in the developed nations. He noted the second perspective revealed the huge disparity between the 3,500 tons of wastes per day, as declared by the minister, and more than 16,000 tons of waste discovered through the research.
He noted the third aspect of the study revealed the government treated a quarter of Al-Qurain Waste Dumping Site, which had been shut down in 1995, whereas the treated part produces toxic gas until now. “Pictures of trees planted at the treated site attest to this fact, so the government should take drastic steps to solve the problem”, he advised.