BZU Environment Club organizes the 1st Environment Day entitled: "Plastics and environmental sustainability"

BZU President, Dr. Khalil Hindi, stressed that environmental sustainability is facing serious risks in the Middle East countries, particularly in Palestine, where the Israeli practices represent a flagrant violation of the rules of international law that guarantees the right of the Palestinian people to exercise legal sovereignty over its sources and its natural resources, since the Israeli racist policy led to the building of  the apartheid wall, which confiscated many of the Palestinian water wells, preventing their owners from utilizing it. This came during the opening of the 1st environment day, held by BZU Environment Club on 22 February 2011, entitled: "Plastics and environmental sustainability."

Dr. Hindi explained that the activities of the Environment Day, organized by the BZU Environment Club, which is newly established as one of the outputs of the project, implemented by the Institute of Environmental and Water Studies and funded by the European Union within the Tempus Program, focusing on three components: economic development, social development and environmental sustainability.

Dr. Hindi stressed. that BZU, through the Institute of Environmental and Water Studies, plays a vital role in the development of water and environment sectors through the provision of technical support to the concerned national institutions, and capacity building through specialized academic programs, training courses and workshops, as well as providing  applied scientific research and technical consultancies.

The Tempus Project Director, Dr. Ziad Mimi, clarified that BZU through the Institute of Environmental and Water Studies and the Faculty of Engineering, believes that it is necessary to contribute to the preservation of the environment by contributing to environmental awareness and conducting applied research, stressing the need to be take the initiative and progress in many areas, most importantly the conservation of the environment.

The Vice President of the Environmental Quality Authority, Mr. Jamil Mutawar, emphasized the importance of sustainable development, work on the sustainability of resources and pollution reduction, stressing the need to revitalize and increase environmental awareness in the society, which is the responsibility of the students.

Mr. Mutawar spoke about the role of the Environmental Quality Authority, where there is work on the preparation of draft environmental laws that govern and regulate the actions that impact the environment, as well as the developing environmental standards for various topics, and developing strategic plans to fully coordinate and cooperate with the various concerned parties and sectors, and environmental monitoring in order to continuously assess and environmental status of Palestine.

From the academic perspective, Dr. Hasan stated that BZU offers specialized courses in water treatment and environmental engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering and courses in renewable energy and energy conservation in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The Council of the Faculty of Engineering and the Academic Council have recently approved the course on "Concepts in Environmental Engineering" as an elective and part of BZU requirements, which will be offered by the Department of Civil Engineering, in collaboration with other departments of the Faculty, starting from the 1st semester of next year, which will contribute to raising environmental awareness among students.

The activities of the Environment Day included an exhibition on "re-use of plastic industries", and a series of scientific lectures. The Engineer Malqina Jamal gave a lecture entitled: "Is the use of plastics safe health wise," while the Engineer Mohamed Hamidi delivered a lecture on Plastic Recycling in Palestine, and Engineer Moaa'oyah Rimawi delivered a lecture on car tires and the environment.