Reduce your waste to improve your life, which aims to educate citizens and stakeholders about the need to preserve the environment and the dangers of solid and compulsory waste.

The Joint Services Councils of the Ministry of Local Government in cooperation with the Japan Local Government Agency (JICA) funded this project launched on Monday a campaign to reduce your waste by improving your life, which aims to educate citizens and stakeholders on the need to preserve the environment and the dangers of solid and compulsory waste.

The activity included the distribution of posters and posters to citizens, shop owners, and taxi drivers in Bethlehem city, carrying awareness statements about the presence of minimizing solid waste and the danger it poses to the environment and the citizen.

The governor of Bethlehem Governorate, Major General Kamel Hamid, said in an interview with the Palestine News Network PNN that the establishment of an awareness campaign on the issue of raising the level of awareness of the citizen in the subject of hygiene is very important, because aesthetic issues are very important, and this initiative in cooperation with local government and support from Japan and JICA Japan is one of the first countries to support the Palestinian National Authority and local government.

Governor Hamid praised the efforts of the Governing Council and the Joint Services Council for this initiative, which seeks to preserve the environment and improve the overall appearance of Bethlehem as a tourist city and therefore must maintain its appearance, stressing the importance of the campaign in this context.

Governor Hamid stressed that there is an increase in the volume of solid waste resulting from misuse and poor culture towards how to deal with the citizen solid waste, stressing that the estimates were that the landfill in Bethlehem will serve 25 years, but estimates differed that it will serve 15 years after its operation The increase in waste resulting from poor culture of solid waste handling.

Governor Hamid stressed the importance of awareness campaigns on waste reduction, especially those aimed at future generations in order to help them preserve the environment, which will contribute to the service of health in the future.

For his part, Suleiman Abu Mufreh, Director General of the Joint Services Councils at the Ministry of Local Government, told PNN: “We are carrying out an activity related to community awareness on solid waste. This activity comes within the framework of a national strategy related to raising the awareness of citizens in general and those concerned with solid waste issues.”

Abu Mufreh added: “ In 2019, the slogan was raised as the year of hygiene and reduction of solid waste, and in this context, we carry out a series of events with the joint services councils in the governorates of the West Bank and Gaza related to awareness. ”

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Abu Mufreh stressed that the attention of citizens to the large amount of waste produced by the Palestinian individual is high and higher than the rate associated with income, as the quantities produced are larger than the quantities required to be produced, and this campaign comes within the framework of raising citizens’ awareness of the problems faced by municipalities in The topic of solid waste, whether collected or disposed of.

Abu Mufreh added: “With regard to waste collection has been improved significantly, but the most prominent problem is the problem of disposal of large quantities that go to landfills, and the most feasible solution in the short and long term is raising awareness to reduce the amount of waste.”

The mayor of Bethlehem a. Anton Salman said that the municipality of Bethlehem has been concerned with the issue of maintaining hygiene for more than two years, and the campaign of Bethlehem clean and green launched since 2017, and is working on it seriously and continuously, and the obstacles faced by the funding in terms of awareness campaigns.

“Our latest work is that at the Expatriates Conference we will release cartoon films that simulate children and talk to them about hygiene and tree conservation,” Salman said.

Salman added: “Today, the Municipality of Bethlehem, in order to keep the city clean, collects waste five times a day, and we hope the citizen to cooperate with us because its cooperation is essential to our success, visitors to the province emphasize cleanliness compared to other areas, but our goal in the municipality to upgrade As a community, we should be distinguished not only by providing the service through the municipality, but also by the citizen’s awareness of the need to reduce solid waste, and we seek to be there using environmentally friendly tools plastic is a major and essential element of pollution to natural sources and soil, and we replace them with bags of carton or cloth easily degradable and does not negatively affect Environment, friendly to human health. ”

For her part, Lamees Qudaimat, a social awareness expert with the Japanese JICA Foundation, which works in cooperation with the local government in her interview with PNN “Today’s activity is an awareness campaign for citizens in Bethlehem city, about hygiene and reducing the production of solid waste, because it is a difficult issue and we have a set of basics We want to deliver these campaigns not only through the media, but through our presence in the street and we talk with people, taxi owners, and the importance of minimizing solid waste, and what are the problems Palestine faces. ”

“Our goal is also to educate housewives about the dangers of using plastic, especially if something touches them,” Qadimat said. “On the other hand, we produce large quantities of plastic that go to the landfill and it is difficult to get rid of them.”

Iyad Abu Rdainah, Executive Director of the Joint Services Council for Solid Waste Management, said: “ Today’s campaign is part of the 2019 campaign and its slogan is to maintain cleanliness and reduce waste. This is part of the campaigns we are conducting in Bethlehem and other governorates in cooperation with the local government to raise awareness. By minimizing waste disposal and preserving public places, specifically in Bethlehem because it is a tourist area, we are keen to maintain the overall appearance of public places. ”

This activity is part of a series of activities carried out in