TEHRAN –  A delegation led by the head of the Department of Environment, Shina Ansari, is participating in the global Zero Waste Forum, being held in Istanbul from October 17 to 19.

Organized by the Zero Waste Foundation and Turkish ministries, the forum is centered on the theme ‘People, Places, Progress’.

The three-day event will focus on different topics, such as transforming policy into tangible action, scaling up effective solutions, mobilizing financial resources, and forging strong international alliances to tackle waste globally.

The forum will provide great opportunities for enhancing environmental interactions between Iran and other countries.

Waste management

One of the most serious environmental problems of the country is improper management of all municipal, household, industrial, hospital, and hazardous wastes, which has caused environmental pollution and a negative impact on the quality and quantity of biological resources (water, soil, and air) and incurs a huge loss of money annually.

Hence, the DOE, in cooperation with the ministries of industry, energy, oil, agriculture, and health, is developing a national strategic plan for waste management.

The plan will focus on modifying the production and consumption patterns, minimizing waste production, and promoting waste segregation at source.

Large industries such as cement and steel are obliged to utilize solid fuels to meet part of their energy needs, particularly in peak demand.

Also, the Ministry of Energy is required to guarantee the purchase of the electricity generated from waste, and the Ministry of Oil is required to guarantee the purchase of or the issue of a sale license for liquid fuels produced from waste.

Moreover, the Ministry of Agriculture is required to guarantee the purchase of organic fertilizers made from recycled waste.

According to Mehdi Khadem-Sameni, an official with the DOE, improper management of waste in the country causes 870 trillion rials (some $791 million) in damage to the environment and natural resources every year.

Some 445 thousand tons of urban, rural, medical, agricultural, and industrial waste are generated per day, equaling 164 million tons per year, leading to land, water, and air pollution, IRNA quoted Mehdi Khadem-Sameni as saying.

The current methods used in the country for waste management are old, the official noted, regretting that up to 80 percent of the waste that can be recycled to be used for different purposes is discarded.

“Out of around 600 waste management centers across the country, just four to five are standardized. In other words, some 96 percent of the waste is just dumped in landfills.”

MT/MG