Nationwide contest seeks to encourage recycling
Jordan Times
By Stephanie Berrong
AMMAN — An NGO that focuses on educating people about the environment wants to
help Jordanians come clean.
The Friends of the Environment society (FoE), in partnership with the Greater
Amman Municipality, the Ministry of Environment, the World Conservation Union
and the Swiss embassy, on Wednesday announced the launch of a national contest
to encourage recycling.
The “Smart Use of Recyclable Solid Waste” competition asks participants to
create useful objects from waste material like paper, plastic and cans.
Submissions should be easy to make from readily available trash. They should be
practical and able to be reproduced by an environment-friendly process.
“We need to make more people aware of the concept of recycling to reduce waste,”
said Sanaa Al Abbadi, the Environment Ministry outreach director.
FoE President Ramzi Kawar said some examples of the types of projects he hopes
to see are plastic bags woven into waste paper baskets or old window shutters
used to build public benches.
Submissions will be divided into three categories: Students aged between 13 and
18, professional designers and people with special needs. Participants can work
individually or in a group.
First, second and third place winners will receive cash and other prizes. The
group will also try to match the winning projects with manufacturers, Kawar
said, while winners will keep the rights to their creations.
Swiss Ambassador Paul Widmer presented a cheque for JD2,500 at the announcement
yesterday. The Swiss embassy has pledged JD10,000 to promote the recycling
contest.
Other partners have provided help planning the contest, donated facilities and
will judge the entries.
Raouf Dabbas, adviser to the environment minister, said working with NGOs is
something the ministry would like to do more of. One of its goals, he said, is
to increase awareness and education on the environment.
“And this is a very good way to put these words into action,” Dabbas added.
The contest is an extension of an initiative funded by the Canada Fund for Local
Initiatives in 2004, which created the cartoon character Abu Tadweer, the father
of recycling.
“The idea,” Kawar said, “is to maintain awareness in a fun way. We are trying
to make him as loveable a character as possible.”
Abbadi said she thinks recycling will catch on with Jordanians.
“If the Greater Amman Municipality is ready to collect the waste separately, the
people will be aware of it,” she said. “It’s possible. Why not?”
The deadline for submitting a project is January 18, 2007.