Japanese volunteer's surprise, Georgian garbage, and a 26 million Euro loan (video)
Support A1+!Rubbish belongs in bins, but the results of the Eco Fest in Bakuriani shows that many have forgotten this. A Japanese volunteer is smiling now. But during the clean-up, at some point, she wasn't just surprised, but angry.
Teacher volunteers are trying to clean the river of rubbish. It's not their first time participating in volunteer clean-up work.
The Georgian organisation Sadagi is organising an Eco-fest in Bakuriani for the second time.
In Bakuriani, 346 volunteers collected 86,500 litres of rubbish over two days. All collected waste was transported to the Khashuri landfill by Bakuriani Development Agency's cleaning service. Last year, 230,000 litres of waste were collected in the same area.
Volunteers participating in the eco-festival discuss what they can do to protect the environment. Answers range from cleaning polluted areas to waste sorting.
The process of implementing a new waste management system has begun in Tbilisi. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is financing the Government of Georgia to set up the first municipal solid waste treatment plant at Tbilisi city's Didi Lilo Landfill․
The full implementation of the system will take about three years. A Tbilservice Group representative insists that its implementation will solve not only the waste sorting problem but also other related issues.
David Bodokia, Deputy Director of "Tbilservice" company, says that its implementation will solve not only the problem of waste sorting but also other related issues: "We are going to build sorting lines to recycle waste and then sell this recycled product."
Meanwhile, more than 15 companies in Georgia have already started using waste as raw material. In Tserovani, the "Tene" social enterprise produces eco-cables from plastic. "Tene" collects six to seven tons of plastic every month. People earn points by bringing plastic waste. These points can be used to buy their products or get discounts.
The Caucasus Environmental Knowledge Portal reports that Georgians produce an average of 29,000 tons of plastic waste annually, 14.9% of all waste. The government's 2016-2030 National Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan aims to recycle 50 percent of plastic by 2025.
More details in the video․
