Interview: Royal Commission for Jubail in Saudi Arabia supports environment with a number of creative programs.
Since the establishment of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu in 1975, the Royal commission is working steadily and studying the environmental impact of the ongoing projects in both cities, says Director of Environmental Protection and Control Department at the Royal Commission for Jubail, Eng. Owayed Al-Rashidi.
He added that the master plan for the city is reviewed every ten years and updated.
He added that after carefully studying the environment in Jubail city, Royal Commission develop environmental standards which cover comprehensively all the industrial activities and were derived from the best international standards in the world. These standards are related to permissible emissions, emission controls, and wastewater discharged from the industries to the central treatment plant.
“We have committed waste management companies to develop mechanism and plans to deal with industrial wastes, moreover, the Royal commission has developed a plan to deal with industrial wastes according to international practices and modern technologies” he explained.
For us, the waste was a great challenge in the past, but today it has become such an important investment opportunity that supports the kingdom’s policies, provides job opportunities, and grateful substantial financial returns.” Al-Rashidi said.
He continued: “since 2010, we have started developing a waste management strategy in the industrial city of Jubail and setting goals to achieve them. Last year, we succeeded in recycling 56% of industrial wastes and set a plan for 2020 to recycle approximately 58% of the waste. We also opened this field for the investors who have the modern and suitable technologies that complies with the world’s environmental and applied standards,”
The Royal Commission has established sustainability plan for plantation in the city. For plantation the equation established by RC is that for each person there should be two trees, seven small shrubs and seventy square meters of green areas and has been maintained in the city, as the tree reduce dust and absorb carbon dioxide, he explained.
“Two years ago, we achieved the best long term award in the field of afforestation in the Arab world, and all reclaimed water used for irrigation, as we prevent the disposal of reclaimed water to the sea. Both industrial and domestic water is 100% recycled”. Al-Rashidi clarified.
He added that before its establishment all the industries are required to perform Environmental Impact Assessment Studies.
“We issue about 100 permit to operate per year both for new and existing industries. All the industries are required to measure emissions by a third party, and we are working on launching a program to online monitoring of emissions from the source,” he stated.
“In 2010, we launched the Environmental Awareness Committee with the cooperation of industries in the city, the committee is working on environmental awareness programs including establishing educational magazines and setting up campaigns for schools,” he said.
At the end “Al-Rashidi” said that: “The Royal Commission has been organizing workshop on the World Environment Day (5th of June) every year from last 14 years, the aim of environment day is to shed the light on global challenges in the field of the environment. World Environment Day is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our planet. The program of the environment day is based on United Nations theme focusing on certain topics, including desertification, plastic and its impact on the environment, Marine and wildlife. Also, the Royal Commission distributes a number of awards, including the best environmental performance award for the industries”.