SOHAR Port has installed solar-powered recycling bins, aiming to reduce the amount of material discarded around its concession areas and to encourage recycling initiative for plastics, glass and paper
The drop-off points were launched at strategic locations around the port and freezone.
Plastic is a collective term for a variety of synthetic polymers with variable material properties, including density. For example, clear plastic drink bottles made of PET, with resin code #1 stamped on the bottom, are denser than seawater and sink when they enter the ocean.
?This is not simply an aesthetic problem. We know these materials breakdown over time to create so-called micro-plastics that are ingested by fish and other marine organisms and can then easily enter the human food chain,? said Mark Geilenkirchen, CEO of SOHAR Port.
In 2014, a one-day clean-up of beaches around the world by International Coastal Clean-up volunteers collected more than 5,500 metric tonnes of rubbish, including more than two million cigarette butts and hundreds of thousands of food wrappers, drink bottles, bottle caps, drinking straws and plastic bags.
In 2016, an international study estimated that around eight million metric tonnes of plastic waste enters the oceans from land each year.
This creates serious environmental hazards in both below and above the waterline. SOHAR?s initiative aims to help in raising awareness of the issues and to encourage recycling, said Geilenkirchen.
SOHAR focuses on reducing plastics discarded around the port and freezone through improved environmental awareness initiatives, such as beach clean-up volunteer days and better communication between the various stakeholders involved.
?When it comes to environmental pollution, prevention is always the best option and our new recycling bins will play a small but important part,? Geilenkirchen pointed out.
