Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council has passed a draft law on waste management to regulate the transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of all types of waste, local media reported.
The legislation aims to minimise or eliminate the uncontrolled dispersal of waste materials in a manner that may cause ecological or biological harm, and includes regulations designed to reduce the generation of waste and promote or mandate waste recycling.
The Saudi regulatory efforts include identifying and categorising waste types and mandating transport, treatment, storage, and disposal practices.
Under the law, offenders will face 10 years’ jail, or SR30 million fine, or both.
The law prohibits the practice of any activity related to waste management except after obtaining a license from the National Center for Waste Management, while the system requires everyone who practices an activity related to waste management to provide the best environmental and economic results in accordance with recycling, resource recovery, and safe disposal.
It defines safe disposal as safe storage or dismantling of any type of waste in an engineering way that prevents any pollution or negative impact on the environment, such as soil, air, water, and biological diversity.
The law also prohibits leaving, burying, burning, or throwing wastes of all kinds in places other than those designated for them.
