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Abstract

Abstract

In 2007, 2,500,000 tons of waste in Qatar was disposed of on the Umalafai landfill, of which 700,000 tons constituted domestic waste, However, only 4600 tons of this waste was discharged to be recycled, and of this 149 tons was paper waste. This high amount of waste paper in 2007, when the population of Qatar was 907,229 means that there should be even more waste as the population reached 1,900,000 in 2009. An immediate response should be taken, and the present research team believes that recycling is the best and easiest solution for this problem. In order to change people's habits, education and awareness programs are needed. A good place to start such a campaign is at educational institutions, such as Qatar University.

Qatar University, with a student population that exceeds 8000, makes a significant contribution to the development of society in Qatar, and plays an important role in leading the public and technology in sustainable protection of the environment.

The project made the students of Qatar aware of the importance of waste paper recycling, with the long term goal of transmitting this awareness to society as a whole. In this project we started paper recycling technology at Qatar University, which will be the starting point in educating society and making Qatar University a leading institution in recycling technologies. Paper recycling equipment will be purchased and installed at the newly built Research Center at Qatar University. The faculty and students of the project are collaborating with the local paper recycling company, Al-Suwaidi Paper Factory, in sharing technical information and building a long lasting collaboration.

The project helped the students understand the life cycle of paper and conducted a survey to gauge people's attitude towards paper recycling in Qatar. At the moment the students are constructing the first recycling plant in a teaching institution, in which the students will be able to synthesise various products made by recycled paper pulp. Attempts are made to develop pulp based composite material products and investigate their mechanical properties. The work will be accompanied by a public awareness campaign for paper recycling.

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/content/papers/10.5339/qfarf.2010.EEPS3
2010-12-13
2024-10-15
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References

  1. A.H. Ghazi, Z.A. Othman, H.D. Dawoud, N.A. Aloraidi, M.R.S. Alokka, A.S. Nazar, M.R. Al Matwi, N. Abdulmonim, O.L. Maki, , Paper recycling at Qatar University, QFARF Proceedings, 2010, EEPS3.
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