Equate Petrochemical Company, the Environment Public Authority (EPA) and Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA) have launched a partnership for the Waste Free Environment (WFE) Beach Cleanup campaign.

The initiative is being held for the fourth consecutive year.

The campaign’s partners for this year included Kuwait Municipality, K’s Path, Touristic Enterprises Company, Kuwait Dive Team and a number of schools.

Held outside the Green Island, the activity was attended by several persons, including Equate employees, school students and other volunteers, who collected 3,840 kg of waste.

EPA chairman & director general Sheikh Abdullah Ahmad al-Humoud Al-Sabah said: “On behalf of EPA, I would like to express overall appreciation to Equate for its continuous support of EPA’s activities, such as sponsoring ‘Teswa Nehmeha’ campaign for overall community awareness regarding the new environmental law number 42 of 2014 and amended by law 99 of 2015.”

Equate president & CEO Mohammad Husain said: “This partnership embodies the commitment of Equate, all participants and stakeholders to protect and preserve the environment as part of strategic objectives for the company, as well as the industrial sector within and outside Kuwait.”

“Today’s partnership is not only an activity. The environment is a critical element in our existence and daily lives in the present and future. We are here to reflect ‘Partners in Success’ through continuing various efforts to form an environmental awareness to protect and safeguard the environment through applying laws, behavioural standards and communal norms in handling waste,” he added.

GPCA secretary-general Dr Abdulwahab Al-Sadoun said: “Our industry is the second largest manufacturing industry in this region and the products the chemical industry produces here in the Arabian Gulf, plastics in particular, contribute significantly to our quality of life, resource preservation and innovation.”

“These products should be responsibly disposed of, either via recycling or energy recovery. This campaign provides us the opportunity to work alongside the community to show that littering our products is not acceptable and help spread knowledge about eco-efficient waste management in general. At the end of the day, waste is not caused by plastic companies, but by people. Educating people on how to properly dispose of litter will empower individuals to take initiative in sustaining the longevity of their environment,” he added.

Last year, WFE gathered over 52 tons of waste collected by over a thousand volunteers in the GCC, Europe and India. The campaign will run in 10 cities around the Gulf, as well as Mumbai’s Juhu Beach, Shanghai’s Nanhui Coastal Beach and in Sittard-Geleen in the Netherlands. – TradeArabia News Service