Environmental Action: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover-- NEF's 4Rs for the West Bank

In 2003 the United Nations Development Program/Program of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP), United Nations Volunteer Program (UNV) in Jerusalem, agreed to finance this challenging project. Normally United Nations Volunteers provide only human resources, but in the case of NEF's Environmental Action Project, they provided initial capital as well. Kuwait-based Mercy International, Canada-based Human Concern International, and the US-based Flora Family Foundation also are partnering with NEF on the project.

TIMETABLE

Design of the facility was done in collaboration with the Water and Environmental Studies Institute of Annajah Univeristy and local Municipality of Asira Ashamaliya engineers. An experienced contractor in landfill construction was selected; contracts were signed in June; and construction immediately began. In early July, two specialists in solid waste management joined NEF's staff, Rawan Ghosheh and Ramzya Rashid, both United Nations Volunteers. In August, they prepared a detailed impact report assuring maximum environmental protection.

The state-of-the-art landfill includes a liner system as well as a leachate collection and treatment unit. Ground and surface water quality will be closely monitored. Gas probes are being dug around the site to detect any methane gas migration produced from waste decomposition. A network of pipes and a depression in the liner system will collect liquid formed by water percolating through waste layers.

Over the past two months attention has focused on introducing waste minimization to area residents by delivering the message: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle or Recover waste as much as possible." This 4Rs concept will be promoted via brochures, calendars, seminars and every other way in a campaign launched to reduce or recycle wastes--rather than having them disposed of at the landfill. Residents are being shown how to sort waste into different bins and prepare bins for collection.

Also the routing for waste collection is determined, using guidelines set by the US Environmental Protection Agency, providing for the easiest, safest, and most economical approach. Volvo Company representatives toured the area with NEF staff to estimate the number of trucks and bins needed. And to keep public participation high, a Joint Services Council is being created with encouragement and assistance from NEF in collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government, to meet the needs of participating villages for solid waste management.

In cooperation with local councils, illegal roadside dumping ordinances are being reviewed and enforced; and on completion of the new landfill, existing dumping areas will be cleared and future violators prosecuted. Village councils are being asked to consider introducing a recycling fee to encourage participation in project-sponsored recycling activities. A technical advisory committee of experts in solid waste management from academic and government has been established.

WHAT ALL THIS MEANS...

...an environmentally safe alternative for 17,500 people living in the villages Asira Ashamaliya, Al-Bathan, Talluza, Bait Imrin, Yasid, Al-Naqura, Ajansiniya and Nisf Jubail after decades of illegal dumping. This dumping not only marred their landscape and roadsides, it posed serious health hazards--physical and chemical dangers, rodents and insects, fires from spontaneous combustion and arson, chemical runoff contaminating wells and surface water, hazards to scavengers, among other problems.

This was the situation in the illegal dumpsite of Asira Ashamaliya and adjacent villages in particular, and the whole West Bank in general when the Near East Foundation was approached by the Asira Ashamaliya Municipality to find a solution to this growing difficulty. NEF determined that constructing a sanitary landfill was central to putting a stop to illegal dumping, closing down sporadic dumpsites, and ending their negative impact on residents and the environment.

Says field engineer Ramzya Rashid: "Near East Foundation has one of the most important environmental projects implemented in the region. It applies the latest scientific methods of solid waste treatment and management--and is environmentally-friendly to solid waste handling, collection, disposal and recycling of re-usable wastes at household and community levels." Because of that NEF has been approached by other municipalities and village councils of the West Bank, hoping for similar projects, making NEF a leading organization in environmental protection issues, according to Salah Abu Eishah, NEF's field office director in Asira Ashamaliya.

IN SUMMARY

NEF's environmental action program establishes * a practical system of garbage collection and sorting at the household level; * provides for timely transfer of sorted garbage to the project dumpsite; * identifies viable markets for recycled products; * and establishes a systematic process for separation and sorting of garbage suited to the business demands recyclables.

Further, the NEF environmental action program provides jobs, improves environmental sanitation, increases health status, encourages voluntarism, and develops local leadership and good management skills.

Beyond these significant technical and practical developments, the NEF program has had yet more very important impact. It has raised community participation and public awareness of environmental problems and is assuring public accountability by municipal mangers and village council employees.

This has been accomplished by the organization of a range of clean-up campaigns and training events surrounding the sorting of garbage and composting of organic waste at the household level. Last year alone, the NEF project sponsored eight summer camps for children and youth, boys and girls ages six to 18, teaching them to think more seriously about their environment and get involved in protecting it. Seminars were held on community leadership, communications, partnerships and collaboration. Participants learned about solid waste management, sorting, recycling, and composting.

And this work continues with village councils, women's groups, and youth organizations in an on-gong effort to involve more local residents and recruit volunteers for future environmental activities. A case in point, in Asira Ashamaliya, NEF nurtured a new environmental nongovernmental organization called Friends of the Environment, now gearing up to promote recycling throughout the area.

For all these reasons, many consider the Near East Foundation's environmental action program a model for future solid waste disposal for the entire West Bank.

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