Six landfills ‘fully responsible for polluting air with gases’

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 22: The Environment Public Authority has sounded the alarm bell again, against the danger of “random disposal” of waste in the country, especially solid waste, and said in a recent report that 6 landfills are “fully responsible for polluting Kuwait’s air with gases,” and that “96% of emissions are all over the country from 3 landfills only, reports Al-Qabas daily. Surprisingly, despite the small area of the country, it has 19 landfills spread across the country of which only 3 are active, 11 are closed and contain 56 million cubic meters of waste.

The landfills in Kuwait, are an imminent environmental and health danger, and the accumulation of waste and its wrong filling or random disposal, are all dangerous factors for the emission of toxic gases and unpleasant odors, and possibly the outbreak of fires, which negatively affects the country’s environment and the health of its residents.

The Environment Public Authority revealed 6 landfills, currently in operation, received 75% of the total waste during the past decades, 3 of which receive municipal waste. In a recent report, the copy of which has been obtained by the daily, the EPA stated that the landfills of Jahra, south of the Seventh Ring Road and Mina Abdulla weigh the incoming waste and fill it without prior treatment, while 96% of the total gases are emitted from these three sites.

The sources pointed out that the 2040 national waste management strategy in the country includes the prevention of landfills of untreated waste with a high organic content, which will represent a significant contribution to climate protection.

It indicated that 11 landfills were closed without completing their full rehabilitation, as they contain 56 million cubic meters of waste. Despite their closure, the report indicated that the landfills still emit greenhouse gases and form leaching water resulting from waste many years after the last load was filled which makes it necessary to monitor the sites carefully and rehabilitate them.