Mum-of-six sets green example - Recycling in Bahrain
>> Monday, April 13, 2009
A DUTCH-BORN mother-of-six has taken it upon herself to single-handedly turn Bahrain into a recycling hub - and she's happy to do it one plastic bottle at a time.
Resident Jameela Mohanna has even set up a website to help citizens recycle and keep them informed on the environmental issues affecting the country.
Her passion for the environment came from the upbringing she had in her homeland, where recycling is part of daily life.
"In Holland, everybody is brought up to respect and protect nature and our natural resources," the 45-year-old told the GDN.
"So we are born and raised with it and it is part of our identity; recycling is a habitual part of our daily life."
Mrs Mohanna moved to Bahrain in 1985 and continued to recycle here as well as trying to encourage others to follow suit.
"Educating people on recycling and the benefits is part of who I am and I can be very pushy about it," she admitted.
"But I found that many people wanted to (recycle), but did not know where to start."
This prompted Mrs Mohanna to begin gathering information about where residents could take their bottles, glass and cans, which she's published online for everybody to access.
She feels the best way to get Bahrain recycling is to encourage the youngsters to get involved from an early age.
"You have to start them young - in pre-school and nurseries they can be taught why they should recycle and how to re-use items," she said.
Mrs Mohanna also believes the government should offer municipality fee reductions for people who recycle and introduce separate bins for plastics, glass and paper collections.
A Bahraini recycler's first port of call would be her website at recyclepointsbh.webs.com.
It not only details the locations of recycling stations, but has information on pollution levels in Bahrain and lists the locations of scrap companies across the island.
Mrs Mohanna is willing to add information about any person, school, group or society that is recycling.
"The truth is we live in a throwaway society and the only way to reduce our waste is by re-using and recycling," she added.
[From Gulf Daily News dated 04 Apr 2009]
