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Rabat – Hakima al-Haiti, Moroccan Delegate Minister for the Environment and Special Envoy for the ongoing United Nations’ COP22 summit, said the controversy surrounding the acceptance of Italian waste for disposal in Moroccan lands last summer caused the kingdom’s economy to “stagnate for tens of days.”
Al-Haiti said the protests showed the Moroccan citizens awareness about environmental concerns and health-related issues.
Since citizens protested the import of waste into the North African country, known for its natural beauty and agricultural fertility, the practice has stopped, the delegate minister said during a press conference related to COP22 in Marrakesh.
A ship carrying 2,500 tons of garbage from Italy docked in Casablanca in late June. The trash included plastic, rubber materials and used tires, which were destined to be burned in a cement factory in Casablanca.
“This incident is not the first of its kind,” Mohamed Khalidi, the president of El Jadida, the regional center for the environment and sustainable development, told the press at the time.
“A certain number of associations have already dealt with other shipments of rubber and used tires from European countries to be burned in similar cement factories in Morocco.”
Though the contents of the trash may not be toxic, burning plastics and tires still causes pollution that could cause breathing problems for Moroccan citizens who come in contact with the smoke.
During a seminar organized by the World Health Organization at the climate summit, delegates to the convention received data showing that 9 of every 10 people live in areas where air pollution levels exceed the maximum limits recommended by the leading global health non-profit.
