Plastic recycling, a new method of confronting the siege on Gaza

Local plastic factories in Gaza attempt to expand their local plastic industry, depending on the recycling of the plastic waste with locally made machines and equipment. Factory owners state that they encounter many challenges, most importantly is Israel’s prevention of the entry of raw materials for plastic industries into Gaza. The owner of one of the factories, Bilal Abdel-Dayem, stated that there is a growing trend in the industrial processing of plastic waste by the factories, amid Israeli prevention of allowing raw materials to enter Gaza. He suggested that those garbage containers are one of the most significant sources of plastic waste for recycling, as the phenomenon of children and young people collecting plastic products from these containers emerged to sell them to plastic factories, to earn their livelihood. According to the Director of the Solid Waste Department at the Environmental Quality Authority in Gaza. Gaza produces about 1900 tons of solid waste a day, 35% of which is plastic, paper, and glass waste, while 65% of it is organic waste.