Oman determines to follow waste hierarchy - reduce, reuse and recycle

Reducing, reusing and recycling, the three Rs are the ways consumers can minimize the volume of waste they generate.

The 3Rs help reduce environmental footprint, carbon dioxide emissions and energy use and limits the amount of landfill space people create. The vision of Oman is to move towards zero waste by providing safe, efficient and most innovative ways of integrated waste management solutions to the country.

With increasing social and economic activities and rapid urbanization, the volume of waste generated will no doubt continue to increase in the coming years. According to the reports from the Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (be'ah Oman), by 2020 the solid waste is expected to reach 4.6 million tonnes per annum based on current generation rate. Definitely a alarming number which will put more stress on the landfill sites of the Sultanate of Oman.

Today, Oman is determined of rigorously following waste management hierarchy - reduce, reuse and recycle. The be'ah Oman has the mandate to restructure and privatize the countries solid waste structure. The government has set up a plan to establish 16 state of the art landfills and 65 waste transfer stations and 4 waste treatment plants as its initial step towards meeting the global standards of waste management.

To add thrust to the initiative taken by Sultanate of Oman towards waste recycling and moving towards zero waste country, Fleming Gulf Conferences will be staging Waste Management Forum Oman to be held on 25 - 26 March 2012 in Muscat, Oman.

The forum will highlight subjects like waste collection, importance of waste hierarchy - reuse, reduce and recycle; government initiative and policy structure and waste management within oil & gas, construction and medical sector.

The forum will have a view to increase awareness on zero waste movement through speaker presentations, local and international case studies and panel discussions. The forum will highlight issues including - integrated and new techniques of solid waste management, hazardous waste - its impact and solution, waste to energy or energy from waste, clean development mechanism and effectively managing construction and demolition waste to name a few.

Confirmed speakers include international environment bodies - UNESCO, UNDP; international government bodies - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs UK, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment of Spain, Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs - Egypt; Gulf environment bodies - Health Authority Abu Dhabi, Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, Saudi Environmental Society; local waste management companies - Oman Waste water Services Company (Haya Water) and be'ah (Oman Environmental Services Holding Co) and faculty of waste management - Sultan Qaboos University.