Muscat: About 2.3 million metric tonnes of plastic are thrown away every year in the Sultanate of Oman, which is more than any other recyclable material. A report issued by be’ah (Oman Environmental Services Holding Company) as part of the company’s Sustainability Report for 2022 says that if the waste can be recycled locally, OMR530 million can be made per year.
The study found that plastic garbage is by far the most destructive to the environment since it stays in the environment for a long time and is made of chemicals that don’t break down. This hurts the ecosystem.
Plastics can hurt more than just the soil, groundwater, and surface water. They can also harm organisms in the marine environment, such as plants and fish that eat plastics or are harmed by them. Be’ah has asked for important steps to be taken to lessen the effects of plastic. One is to recycle it or use alternatives that are better for the environment. Another is to make more people aware of how plastic affects the environment.
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After laying the groundwork for a sound and sustainable waste management system, Be’ah’s primary strategies are now moving towards a circular economy model and away from the traditional linear economy model.
The goal of the circular economy model is to reduce the amount of natural resources used by making materials and things last longer.
By using the circular economy model, Be’ah hopes to lessen the impact of the waste management industry on the environment and, more importantly, to have a positive effect on the economy and help Oman reach its Vision 2040 goals.
Be’ah noted that investments in the circular economy in the Sultanate of Oman are thought to be worth roughly 577 million OMR.
The company told people to think twice before using plastics and to replace them with materials that break down and can be used again and again. More importantly, plastic trash needs to be thrown away with care so it doesn’t hurt the environment.
As part of a national effort to use less plastic and make less plastic waste, the Environment Authority issued Ministerial Resolution No. 23/2020 banning the use of single-use plastic shopping bags. This is in line with the provisions of Law No. 114/2001 on the Protection of the Environment and Control of Pollution. The purpose of the rule is to reach the goals of sustainable development and make sure that the national action plans for managing plastic products and their waste are carried out.
The municipal laws and rules also took the need to keep public places clean into account. This was done to stop people from doing things that would hurt the environment and people in general. For example, Article 11 of the local order for public health protection No. 1/2006 says that it is against the law to throw, leave, put, liquidate, poop, or burn trash in public places or get rid of trash anywhere other than the places designated by the municipality. This trash also has plastic trash in it.
Municipal rules have also made it harder for people to break them. For example, people who dump trash anywhere other than where it’s supposed to go now have to pay an administrative fine of OMR 100.
Circular economy
The idea of a circular economy is in line with the goals of Oman Vision 2040, which are to protect the value of the environment’s resources. This goes beyond the idea of a linear economy, which only looks at extracting, making, and getting rid of things. The government has been trying to get investments and has offered a number of investment opportunities to improve the waste management sector.
It would help get rid of health and environmental problems, cut down on pollution, and change the way trash is collected.
In a new economy based on plastics, plastic never turns into trash or pollution. To reach this goal and build a circular economy for plastic, you need to do three things.
Get rid of all plastic things that cause problems or aren’t needed. Make sure that the plastics we do need can be reused, recycled, or turned into compost. Keep all the plastic things we use in the economy so they don’t end up in the environment.
Social responsibility
Some good habits might help solve the problem of plastic waste and stop it from spreading, depending on how much people in a community believe in their role and their individual and social responsibility to the environment they live in and the vital systems on the planet.
Adopting the best and most effective way to handle waste is by using less plastic in daily life, giving serious thought before buying plastic items, and replacing them with other materials that can be broken down, reused, or thrown away without hurting the environment.
On the other side, coming up with inventive ways to recycle and reuse things will help cut down on the amount of waste, especially plastic, and the need for recycling firms.
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Plastic is the main culprit
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report “From Pollution to Solution” says that plastics are the largest, most harmful, and most persistent type of marine litter. At least 85% of the estimated 11 million metric tonnes of plastic that enter the ocean each year are made of plastic, and this amount is expected to triple in the next twenty years.
This indicates that between 23 and 37 million metric tonnes of plastic will flow into the oceans every year by 2040. That’s the same as 50 kilogrammes of plastic trash for every kilometre of coastline around the planet.
Plastic waste in the ocean can potentially hurt people. Human health is tied to environmental health in a way that can’t be separated. Microplastics are everywhere on our planet, which makes me very worried about people’s safety. People are breathing in microplastics through the air, eating and drinking them, and even absorbing them through their skin, according to new studies. Even our lungs, livers, spleens, and kidneys have been shown to contain microplastics, and a recent study detected microplastics in the placentas of newborn babies.