Kurdistan’s Sulaimani becomes first in Iraq to separate garbage bins for food, plastics, glass

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Mayoral office of the Kurdistan Region’s city of Sulaimani made a rare decision on Wednesday to officially initiate a recycling program, separating trash from recyclable material in an attempt to protect the environment and raise social awareness.

The move will see three garbage bins placed inside the building of the Mayor’s office: one for food waste, one for plastics, and the other for glass items.

“Our objective is to protect environment and the citizen’s health as well as raise social awareness among people on the risks of polluting,” said Sulaimani Mayor Awat Mohammed in a statement.

The mayor’s decision comes after issuing previous similar orders to local restaurants and housing complexes to separate trash, with his office leading the way for the public sector.

“The Kurdistan Region’s environment suffers immense pollution on a daily basis as plastic and glass materials are dumped by the side of the road,” Mohammed lamented.

He stressed that protecting the environment is the duty of everyone in the Kurdistan Region, and that all need to work to maintain a clean environment, free of pollution as it ultimately affects everyone’s health in the community.

“We hope this first step will be an awakening to the community, with every citizen shouldering the responsibility and taking part in protecting the environment.”  

The mayor hoped that all the government and non-government sectors will take part in the environmental conservation movement.

Recently, several local organizations launched a campaign to encourage recycling in the autonomous Kurdish region by placing separate garbage bins, first in schools and universities as a first step, and later looking to expand it to other locations.

Editing by Nadia Riva