Developing an Environmental Consciousness in Iraqi-Kurdistan

A report on the environmental conditions of Iraqi-Kurdistan

Walking through the street in Iraqi-Kurdistan you get a feel for the need of an improved garbage collection system. Paper, metal, plastics, cardboard, and all matter of waste are washed down the streets already performing the duties of exposed sewer lines and pedestrian thoroughfares. The filth clogs drains forcing everything behind it to build up until enough force is created to push the mess further down the street clogging up the next drain creating a chain reaction that ends with sewage and garbage seeping into and contaminating local and downstream water supplies. As Northern Iraq is the headwaters for the Tigris, and the Euphrates Rivers this means that downstream is the rest of the Middle East.

The United Nation Environment Program has stated that roughly 80% of marine debris originates from land-based sources and activities. In addition, plastics make up 90% of floating marine debris.

Plastics have been found in the digestive tracts of over 100 species of seabirds. In fact, by 1998, the Marine Mammal Commission reported that marine debris had affected at least 267 animal species around the world. It is also important to note that one piece of rubbish can kill more than one animal in its litter lifespan.

Even with this type of an impact little concern is given for the environment. The largest concerns in this area are a lack of continuous electrical power, the rising price of fuel, and a lack of clean drinking water. Limited thought and effort can be placed on new business ideas that deal with the environment. Focus is often diverted from long term implications to short term gains. Little thought is being placed on tomorrow. The irony is that having a longer term vision of environmental conscience has proven time and again to positively affect these short term concerns precisely because short term solutions deal with symptoms rather than root causes.
One of the largest contributors to accumulated waste is the unequal balance of imports to exports. As a developing country, Iraqi-Kurdistan has imports that far outnumber its exports. The imports that Iraqi-Kurdistan sees are increasing their content of plastics. The characteristics that increasingly make plastic the manufacturing and packaging material of choice, i.e. light weight, durable, less expensive, also make it a challenge to collect and recycle. Plastic materials when released into the environment can also be a visual blight and harmful to wildlife. Nor does plastics debris degrade in the environment; instead it tends to accumulate, creating long-term environmental problems.

The only real form of wealth accumulation in Iraqi-Kurdistan is from external support or from the sale of oil. Due to the Oil for Food program even produce is brought in from other countries instead of being created in the fertile plains of Iraqi-Kurdistan thereby destroying the local farming culture. Everyone is moving out of the villages and into the cities. To make up for this growth cities have been reaching further outward and upward. This has increased population density and growing with it is the amount of litter, garbage, waste materials, refuse, or whatever else you want to call it. The majority of this garbage is collected and placed in a local collection spot where it is burnt.

Dioxin is one of the many pollutants given off from burning of trash. Dioxin is a catchall term for three chemical groups: true dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The most dangerous form of dioxin, 2,3,7,8 -tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxcin (or its abbreviation, 2378 - TCDD), has been called "the most lethal human-made poison." Its toxicity is second only to radioactive waste; just three ounces would be enough to kill one million people. Even at levels less than one part per billion, it can cause serious health impairments. It was once used in Agent Orange, the Vietnam-era herbicide that continues to cause health problems for many American veterans exposed over thirty years ago. Dioxin contamination at Love Canal (Niagara Falls, NY) forced hundreds of families to abandon their homes.

Given off in large quantities by burning plastics and paper, dioxin accumulates in the soil in areas surrounding burn sites. Ground-level concentrations of dioxin resulting from burning household garbage in a burn barrel are 7,000 times more then the amount formed when garbage is burned in a resource recovery facility. Slow to break down, dioxins linger for centuries in the affected area and are absorbed into plants that grow in the contaminated soil. Animals that eat these plants absorb the dioxin, and ultimately dioxin makes its way to humans who eat the animals or crops grown in this soil. Dioxin does not break down or pass out of our bodies; it accumulates in our fat cells.

Ash and other particulate matter can irritate the eyes and throat, damage the lungs, cause bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, and restrict visibility. It can seriously affect people with asthma or certain allergies. Burn barrel ash laden with heavy metals is particularly toxic, and often seeps into ground water.

To prevent an even greater tragedy Iraq needs to start addressing their trash problem. Simple changes need to be made first and foremost. The first change that needs to be made is to stop bringing the trash up into the mountains. It is better to have the trash collected in lower areas that will not contaminate downstream resources. The second major undertaking is to separate the trash that is collected into recyclables, hazardous materials, and biodegradable waste.
The recyclable materials need to be collected and either processed in country or exported for profit. Successful recovery of plastics -- like any material -- requires an infrastructure that can get plastics from the consumer and back into use as new products. The plastics recycling infrastructure has four parts:

Collection-Rather than being thrown away, plastics (primarily PETand HDPE) are collected for recycling. Curbside collection with other materials and drop-off at recycling centers are common plastics collection methods.

Handling-Plastics from collection programs are sorted to increase their value and compacted to reduce shipping costs.

Reclamation-In conventional recycling, sorted plastics are chopped, washed and converted into flakes or pellets that are then processed into new products. Advanced recycling technologies can take mixed plastics back to their original building blocks (monomers or petroleum feedstocks). These can then be recycled into a number of different products, including new plastics.

End-use-Reclaimed plastic pellets or flakes-or petroleum feedstocks-are used to manufacture new products.

The variety of products made with recycled plastics is growing. Here are just a few examples:
· Recycled PET can be used in producing deli and bakery trays, carpets, clothing and textiles.
· Recycled HDPE can become bottles for laundry produ cts, recycling bins, agricultural pipe, bags, motor oil bottles, decking and marine pilings.
· Recycled vinyl can become playground equipment, film and airbubble cushioning.
· Recycled LDPE can be used to manufacture bags, shrink film and compost bins.
· Recycled PP can be used in automobile parts, carpets, battery casings, textiles, industrial fibers and films used for packaging products such as candy.
· Recycled PS can be used in products including office accessories, video cassettes and cases.

All hazardous materials need to be placed in suitable containment facilities and treated until they are benign or they can be disposed of with the least environmental impact. Biodegradable waste can then be accumulated and contained to enable the methane to be trapped and used as an energy creation facility. The decomposed waste can then be turned into humus that can be sold as nutrient rich soil.

As these programs are developed, a large scale population education program has to take place teaching the locals the methodology behind the “reduce-reuse-recycle” campaign. Care will have to be given to promote an environmental social conscience that will allow for a sustainable future in Iraq. At the current rate of expansion in Northern Iraq coupled with the waste management practices used today, Northern Iraqi cities will soon be swimming in their own filth. The amount of pollutions caused by the cities will contaminate the drinking water and release pollutants into the air leading to widespread disease and death. There are many diseases and problems that are already noted as being caused by burning trash and having plastics in the environment.

In 2004 Dr. Sarah (Steve) Mosko, Ph.D did research into “What Else Is In Plastic.” Her studies discovered that many “stabilizers” are placed in plastics to ensure that they remain rigid during use. These stabilizers can separate from the plastic and be absorbed into the human body. The manufacturing of these plastics will also release more and more contaminants into the environment. Recycling these plastics will decrease the amount of harmful stabilizers released into the atmosphere from production and into the ground from burying and the air from burning. The toxins in plastics buried and burned is realeased into the environment causing Decreased rates of pregnancy and higher rates of miscarriage along with other pregnancy complications. Children with Asthma were noticed to have an increased amount of plastic toxins in their urine. Males who have noticed a decrease in their sperm count and increase in testicular cancer were all noticed to have higher levels of phthalates (a stabilizer found in plastics) in their urine.

Ensuring that hazardous materials do not make their way into the ground water, soil, and atmosphere is the responsibility of whoever is in power in Iraqi-Kurdistan but is an area of concern for anyone who gets water from the Tigris or Euphrates Rivers. The wholesale pollution of these headwaters is affecting all of the downstream populace. Efforts need to be put in place immediately to stem the flow of toxins from trash into the environment. Only when the supply is stopped can anything be done about the pollutants that are already there.

The first step in this process is for the Kurdistan Regional Government to appoint a Minister of Refuse Collection and Remediation in the Ministry for the Environment. This Minister would be in charge of ensuring waste management facilities in all areas of Kurdistan meet international requirements for health concerns. This minister would also be responsible for ensuring all future expansion planning has environmental impact assessments (EIA) done prior to the commencement of any work. This will allow an integrated environmental management (IEM) plan to take precedence in the country minimizing environmental impact of progress. The Minister is intended to guide, rather than impede the development process by providing an approach to gathering and analyzing information, and ensuring that it can be easily understood by all interested and affected parties in the development. The purpose of this ministry is to resolve or lessen any negative environmental impacts and to enhance positive aspects of development proposals.

The second step in this process is for the Kurdistan Regional Government to work with local Municipality Ministries to facilitate changes in trash collection and processing procedures. Educational campaigns would have to be undertaken to utilize trash separation practices at the lowest levels. Trash receptacles would be clearly marked at public areas, homes, and businesses for recyclable materials, biodegradable trash, and hazardous materials. This trash could be collected on different days, or by different vehicles. Biodegradable and recyclable trash could be collected by private entities, which have special permission from the ministry. Hazardous waste would be collected by the municipalities for sorting and proper remediation at the waste collection facility. The utmost care would be taken to limit environmental impact during the collection, processing, and storage practice.

The recycling aspect is best approached by a private entity, with government backing, that is set up to process the recyclables and sell them to outside buyers. These recyclables can be baled and shipped out of the country or they can be processed into usable base materials. These materials may then be exported or used by manufacturers in the region. As Kurdistan is land locked, private companies would need government assistance to set up recycling centers that would be able to handle the needs of the community. Helping companies offset the cost of setting up recycling centers would be cheaper for the KRG then establishing, running, and maintaining a recycling center on its own. In turn, the impact of reusing the generated waste has a value beyond compare. Government assistance could include donation of land for recycling centers, assistance in the collection of recyclable materials, separation of recyclable materials in existing landfills, and waiving of fees and taxes for businesses involved in the recycling operation.
Biodegradable waste will need to be taken away from the city and placed in a facility that can trap the methane emitted during decomposition. The escaping methane can be burned in an electricity generator allowing power generation to be utilized by the facility and extra power to be sold back to the main grid. When the waste has decomposed into humus it can then be packaged and sold as fertilizer or soil. This humus can be used to revitalize farmland without the use of pesticides, insecticides, and harmful toxins used in chemically enhanced soil nutrients. This will lead to larger farm yields and increased competitive advantage for local farmers. This program can be undertaken by the city or by a private entity. Similar means of support for the recycling centers can be used for the biodegradable waste center with the possible addition of government purchase of the humus for distribution to farmers.

Once these programs are in place, care can be given to clean Kurdistan of all waste materials that are collecting in the rivers, hills, cities, and environment. This will increase the beauty of Kurdistan bolstering tourist revenues, and improving the quality of life of the people in Kurdistan and all of the Middle East. This community clean up program can be accomplished by using manpower to simply go around the community and pick up all of the trash that is lying around and placing it in the proper trash receptacles. The manpower for this can be garnered from local schools, universities, businesses, and corrections institutions. Care can be taken to instruct government funded agencies when and where the cleanup needs to take place. A medial campaign can be launched to caste a favorable light upon volunteering ones’ time to such a cause.

The media will play a major role in the success of this campaign. The public needs to be informed on the importance of recycling and keeping their city clean. This may not be considered a priority when there is no continuous electrical power or clean drinking water, but these problems are not mutually exclusive. The dirty water is part of the pollution problem due to poor garbage collection and remediation practices. Lack of continuous electrical power is in-part due to poor electrical practices that cause a conglomerate of wasted wiring to be strung from building to building without a care for removal of old wires when new ones are put in. These wires still carry an electrical load and cause for the power limit to be reached far sooner then would be necessitated if better power management practices were in place.
Once these practices are agreed upon and put in place an Environmental Audit should be done by an official auditing firm from Europe or America. At that point they auditing team will point our areas that still need improvement and give ideas on how to improve these areas. The initial cost will be considerable but with adopting environmentally friendly practices an area can run more efficiently and reduce overall costs for the locale. Non-first world countries have to learn to live within the means of their country. Without a program to ensure a streamlined environmental and economical policy a non-first world country will soon find itself without the economic power to support its own population.

As a newly forming and developing nation Kurdistan has the chance to ensure that its progress is inline with promoting strong future potency in the Middle East by ensuring its environmental concerns are inline with its economic and progressive goals. Only by using its resources in a manner that will aid continued progress and prosperity will Kurdistan ensure its own existence past the supply of its limited resources of oil and oil byproducts. Once that oil is exhausted Kurdistan will soon find that its greatest renewable resource is its water and fertile land. We can only hope that in the exploitation of oil these resources are not abandoned and ruined for future use.

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