The concept of waste recycling has been getting increasing attention in Saudi Arabia in recent years. The country produces around 15 million tons of municipal solid waste each year with an average daily rate of 1.4 kg per person. This rate is projected to double (30 million tons per year) by 2033 with current annual population growth rate of 3.4%. The major ingredients of Saudi Arabian municipal solid waste are food waste (40-51%), paper (12-28%), cardboard (7%), plastics (5-17%), glass (3-5%), wood (2-8%), textile (2-6%), metals (2-8%) etc. depending on the urban activities and population density of studied region. In Saudi Arabia, recycling is in early stages, and recycling of metals and cardboards is the main recycling practice, which covers 10-15% of the total waste and usually carried out by informal sector. The waste pickers or waste scavengers take the recyclables from the waste bins and containers throughout the cities.
The waste recycling rate often becomes high (upto 30% of total waste) in some areas of same cities. The recycling is further carried out at some landfill sites, which covers upto 40% of total waste by the involvement of formal and informal sectors. The recycled products are glass bottles, aluminum cans, steel cans, plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, waste tire, etc. depending on the area, available facilities and involved parties.
According to cnbcarabia.com ,in the Saudi arabia every year, 2.1 Billion paper receipts are issued weighing 1500tonnes which results in 112,500 trees being cut down for the paper making process. Under the Saudi arabia’s Sale of Goods Act 1979, there is an obligation by suppliers to provide a receipt, should a consumer wish to return an item, and therefore provide proof of purchase. The average Saudi arabia household receives approx 2080 receipts every year. However the maximum number of receipts required for returned goods is only 0.02% (based on clothing return rates- as it has the highest purchase-return rate of any type of good) but in most cases it is lower than this. Therefore 110,250 trees (99.98%) are cut down each year unnecessarily. If only a maximum of 0.02% receipts issued each year are actually necessarily- surely there is a better more environmentally friendly way of issuing a receipt without using paper.
