Qatar residents ask for enhanced recycling facilities across the country in survey by Qatar Green Building Council

Residents of Qatar have called for enhancement of the available recycling facilities in the nation’s first ever e-survey investigating attitudes to sustainable living held by Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF). 

Conducting the pioneering study about the use of energy and water resources as well as attitudes to green living, QGBC’s initiative received an exceptional response with over 1,600 replies from interested local and expat residents. 

The initiative demonstrated QGBC’s support for Qatar Foundation’s mission to provide leading-edge sustainable best practices, by providing education about and promoting environmental improvements within built environments. In turn, this supports QF’s commitment to help the country meet priorities set out in the Qatar National Vision 2030 for its journey towards a knowledge-based economy. 

Reassuringly, respondents demonstrated a keen desire to live sustainably with 90 per cent stating an interest in environmental issues, and 51 per cent aware of the productive work of QGBC. 

Furthermore, residents voiced overwhelming support for recycling in Qatar in the pursuit of establishing greener communities and neighbourhoods in the country. Nearly 90 percent of the residents believe that their biggest motivator to recycle is their care and concern for the environment. 

Paper and plastic are cited as the most recycled materials, however, initial analysis  suggests that providing accessible recycling facilities would reduce waste further, as approximately two-in-every-three (65 per cent) currently say they lack access to convenient facilities.  

The recycling and reuse of paper by business users is promoted in QGBC’s annual ‘No Paper Day’ initiative in April each year, however, only 6 percent of the household respondents possess recycling facilities at homes, in consequence, leading to a considerable amount of waste being dumped into landfills.   

Five in ten respondents agreed that convenient recycling facilities, either direct collection from their houses or recycling facilities within walking distance of home would considerably improve waste generation in the country. 

Elsewhere, initial analysis of the results indicate major opportunities for residents to improve energy efficiency at home by tackling inefficient use of washing machines, air conditioning and other electrical appliances that contribute to high household energy consumption. 

Highlights of the survey include:

- 9 in 10 residents use a washing machine to clean clothes yet, on average, over 50 percent of the washes are only half full or less.

- Just 2 in 3 residents (65 per cent) always turn off air conditioning when leaving the house, with only 1 in 25 using the timer function, suggesting that the situation could be improved greatly through education or introducing new, user-friendly technology.

- 50 percent of respondents only switch the TV to high-energy standby mode – rather than turning power at the switch - when no longer watching. 

In each of these cases, changes to expatriate and local residents’ behaviour will cut both household energy bills, and reduce use of the nation’s precious energy resources that could instead be spent on other projects to benefit the nation. 

The data, which is currently being analysed in depth by QGBC’s staff and expert volunteers attached to its active sustainability interest groups, also reveals that a significant amount of water is wasted at homes with a corresponding cost attached to this particularly precious and scarce resource for the nation. 

QGBC will use the findings to study personal resources consumption in Qatar and to find solutions for easing Qatar’s sustainability demands and provide practical and cost-effective solutions as well as sharing the conclusions with key decision makers in order to support national priorities. 

Commenting on the role QGBC plays in creating a greener Qatar, Engineer Meshal Al Shamari, QGBC Director, said: “QGBC is working towards creating sustainable best practices within the built environment through education and various awareness initiatives. The analysis is providing particularly interesting results which will help QGBC effectively tailor its various educational programmes for the community, and enhance our cutting-edge training and consultancy services used by many businesses in Qatar.”  

Dr Alex Amato, Head of Sustainability at QGBC, said: “This survey demonstrates what we already knew that the people of Qatar want to live sustainably, but it also showed how interested residents are in advice and techniques that make this possible with busy lifestyles and ever changing technology.  The survey generated exciting results and provide us with a better insight into how QGBC can effectively help residents of Qatar live more sustainably through innovative yet practical solutions.” 

QGBC is a non-profit, membership-driven organisation dedicated to advocating green building solutions, leading industry research, as well as promoting sustainable practice in the community. Through QGBC, Qatar has joined a network of 80 different countries that run active national green building councils under the umbrella of the World Green Building Council.