‘Digital reach is better’, says Council for Environment

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Boards saying glass can sit in the wild for 4,000 years have won backing from the environment council, but it says people are more likely to take note through their phones than from signs on a wall.

The Supreme Council for Environment said it had no objection to a plan for awareness boards showing how long common rubbish takes to break down, though it added that newer media would reach a far bigger share of the public.

In a written reply, Amna Hamad Al Rumaihi, chief executive of the council, said teaching people about the harm caused by everyday waste was part of pushing for more careful spending and less rubbish.

Harm

She said the council saw value in making people aware of “the impact of waste resulting from consumption, whether organic, plastic or otherwise”, with the aim of cutting the amount thrown away and easing the harm done to the environment.

But while she backed the idea in principle, she made clear that screens would beat signboards for reach.

The council, she said, “has no objection” to placing awareness boards at waste collection and sorting sites, yet believes “the use of modern media would be more effective, as it would reach larger sections and groups within society”.

Her reply followed talks at the Capital Trustees Board, which had looked at a recommendation from its Services and Public Utilities Committee on putting up signs to show how long litter stays in nature.

The plan was pitched as part of a drive to strengthen care for the environment and the look of the capital.

Mohammed Al Abbas, the board member behind the idea, said the aim was to keep public spaces free of rubbish, keep clean areas looking as they should, draw people to the coast for leisure, and shield wildlife from waste that animals can swallow or get trapped in.

He also said it would help cut pollution caused by rubbish being thrown carelessly into public places and the sea.