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Muscat: The Environment Society of Oman, (ESO) has joined hands with a leading local mineral water manufacturing company to reduce carbon footprint in the country.
Approximately 2 million tonnes of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste is generated annually in the GCC region, according to Pankaj Chugh, General Manager of National Mineral Water Company (NMWC), manufacturer of Tanuf mineral water.
"We are the only one to set up a PET bottle recycling plant in Fujairah and our plant can recycle only 10 per cent of the waste generated in the region," he said during a press briefing held at Hotel Chedi on Saturday evening.
"Unfortunately, the rest is used in land filling," pointed out Nida Helou, ESO Manager. She said the PET bottles take 100 or more years to degenerate thus occupying space.
In May, NMWC set up GCC region's first $26-million PET recycling plant in its bid to become carbon-neutral. "Currently we have an agreement with the Dubai Municipality and now we will take waste collected in Oman to this plant for recycling," Chugh said.
"We chose Fujairah as it was the most ideal location logistically as well as port facilities etc," he said in reply to a question.
NMWC with ESO will place 20 specially designed PET disposal bins at housing and commercial complexes, colleges, restaurants and commercial institutions in Oman to collect used PET bottles.
"We have even sub-contracted collection of these bottles in Nizwa-Ibri area," he said. In Oman, he estimates annual use of 8,000 tonnes of PET bottles. Helou stressed that the PET bottles should not be reused under any circumstances. "The tendency is to reuse these bottles but that is harmful," she said, adding there was a need to create awareness about the danger plastics poses to our lives.
Chugh said the recycled PET bottles would only be used for non-food items. "We have the know-how to reuse it for food items also. But we don't want to take any chances therefore initially it would be reused only for non-food containers."
He assured that as the awareness and collection increases, the number of bins will be increased in order to reduce the carbon footprint.
"Recycling one tonne of PET saves about 5700 KWH of electricity and about 700 gallons of oil. For example, an empty 1.5 litre Tanuf bottle, if recycled, will save enough energy to power a 60W bulb for five hours," Chugh said.
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