Waste Management in Kuwait - Research Paper Example

College Introduction Waste management is one of the major challenges facing Kuwait. As a result of this, there are various economic impacts that are felt due to the negligence, negative social choices and inappropriate government actions that are connected to this waste management. Based on the three different solid waste management scenarios, the effect of mining on Al-Ahmad city and the how health waste affects Kuwait this paper looks at the economic factors involved in it and how market failure has contributed to this. There are various environmental issues facing Kuwait and all these have different externalities. Healthcare by products have been disposed to rivers and other areas that are ineffective for their disposal. As a result these wastes have brought with them different devastating affects most of them affecting the economy of the country. The waste is as a result of various economic activities taking place in the country. This therefore means that the waste and their effects are as a result of market failures. Identification of the problem is a key factor here and it involves looking at all the externalities of the various economic activities and the economic activities that are associated with them. Problem analysis is the other factor that we consider here. By the use of a demand curve, we can determine the net social benefit and the marginal private benefit and determine the causes of these externalities. At the end a solution which is economically appropriate is given out to replace the various policies. Problem identification There are various environmental problems that are seen in Kuwait. Following the announcement by Mohammed Al-Enzi that Sabah Al-Ahmad city was at a risk of pollution due to the exposure of the various liquid industrial wastes. This is situated just four kilometers from the city. He also states that Kuwait is one of the countries that have challenges regarding environmental waste disposal. Municipal solid waste is also a problem that is faced by the country. The collection of this waste, their transportation and disposal is a major challenge for the country various suggestions have been put forward to help in the management of these sites such involves the use of anaerobic digestion of the waste before disposing them to the land. Using LCA, the impact of these waste were seen to influence people a lot negatively. Electronic waste is another important point of discussion here. E waste should always be separated with other waste that is decomposable. However in Kuwait, these E wastes are mixed with other waste materials that can be decomposed thereby making it even hard to dispose. People are also ignorant about the effects of electronic waste on the life of an individual and the entire world. Most people therefore do not take necessary effects needed in order to separate the E wastes from other bio degradable wastes. Awareness is therefore needed and this is the call for both public and government intervention. Healthcare products waste is also common in Kuwait. There are various diseases that are seen in the area of Kuwait due to the rising number of bad disposal of healthcare products. These result in negative economic impact on the government and the people of Kuwait as this disease are expensive to treat and better ways of disposal are also expensive to set and maintain. Poor disposal of these materials is also a major challenge that is faced by the people of Kuwait. By products from healthcare is also a challenge to the people as they have to think of the best way to dispose them and make them have no threat to causing diseases. Various hospitals are also taking the advantage of government reluctance and disposing their waste in a dangerous manner. This result in environmental pollution which in the long run affects the economy. Problem analysis The externalities experienced in Kuwait are as a result of the marginal social cost (MSC) being more than the private costs (MPC). From the look, there is more profit that the government and the industries involved in production are getting from. Due to this, the private costs are always overlooked thereby resulting in negative externalities. For example, the profit that is made from mining in Al-quiran is large and due to this, the government does not have legislation that protects the lands and the people from pollution from these industry wastes. This therefore means that the private costs have been reduced and as a result there are negative consequences experienced. The divergences between MSC and MPC have resulted in external costs that are very costly. Due to the profits that hospitals and other healthcare places made, the government did not consider to have policies that would protect the environment from pollution as this would mean a reduction in the profits that are made from production. There are a total of 16 landfills in the country all these could have been reduced had effective policies been put in place to help cover the mess left behind. The worst part is that these externalities are not paid by the people and industries that cause them and made profit from them rather they are paid by the third party that felt no impact on the profit that was made. For equilibrium to be made, the social costs have to be the same with the private costs so as to reduce the externalities experienced. However care should be taken so that the private costs do not become so high such that the economic activity would be useless as no profit would be made. Alternative solutions For any solution that will be effective, the MPC has to be increased so that it becomes the same with the MSC. This will involve various activities such as involvement of government policies. Decision making is the main important thing that the government has to consider in order to ensure that the pollution does not move to greater heights. The policies will however have an effect on the efficiency; this is because without the policies production is done efficiently but to the cost of the environment. However with different policies that impact on the industries, the efficient ways in which the industries produce their goods are changed. The demand for natural resources is so high while this demand results in high profit; it has devastating environmental concerns which means that control should come as to how much of the natural resources have to be used. When this is affected, then the landfills that are common in Kuwait will reduce as there would be policies that protect the environment from over exploitation. Internalization of externalities is one policy that can save the country from pollution. If all the externalities that are present in the environment could be traced back to their causer so that they can bear the cost of what they made, then it would be hard for the industries to make decisions that would later affect them hence they would always work for the best of the environment. With policies that ensure that everyone pays for their action, every pollution that is made will not be transmitted to the third party as the companies will have to ensure that they produce at a cost that is best for both the environment and its people. Above all, the MPC should be made to be at the same level with the MSC thereby preventing the producers from neglecting pollution costs into the environment. Conclusion With various policies, and intervention, Kuwait is able to slowly reduce pollution of the environment. However these policies have to be directed to all the stakeholders involved in an appropriate manner that all interlinaliztion of any externality that is present within the organization. For efficiency too, the private costs should not be too high such that no profit is made by the industry or such that the cost of production becomes so high that the consumer is forced to feel the weight of production with increased costs. People also need to be educated on various ways to help conserve the environment such as proper dispasal of waste especially electronic wastes. If this is achieved, then the MPC can be highly reduced. Work cited Dodbiba, G., Takahashi, K., Sadaki, J., Fujita, T., 2008. ‘The recycling of plastic wastes from discarded TV sets: comparing energy recovery with mechanical recycling in the context of life cycle assessment’. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16, pp. 458-470. Read More