How Gaza’s plastic factories are betting on recycling
Plastic factories in the Gaza Strip seek to develop the local production of products through recycling, and break the reliance on imported goods.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Ramlawi Plastic Factory, located east of Gaza City, is making strides in the local plastics industry by recycling plastic and scrap for use in its products. This comes at a time when Gaza's plastics factories face numerous obstacles due to Israel’s ban on the entry of raw materials for plastics industries.
“There is a growing trend in our factory and other factories to use plastic waste in the industry in light of the Israeli ban on raw materials into Gaza,” said Khalil Ramlawi, the director of the factory's marketing and quality department.
Garbage containers and bins are seen as the best places to find plastic waste to be recycled in Gaza's factories, including at the Ramlawi factory, which was established in 1986. More young Palestinians have started to gather and then sell plastic materials to factories as a source of livelihood.
The Gaza Strip produces about 1,900 tons of solid waste per day, 65% of which is organic waste, and the remaining 35% comprising plastic, paper and glass, according to a press statement from Gaza's Environmental Quality Authority.
