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Saudi Arabia Plans to Recycle, Export PET Flakes

SIRC announced earlier this week that it has exported its first recycled and heat-washed PET flakes to a major UK recycled PET bottle manufacturer. (The company’s website)
SIRC announced earlier this week that it has exported its first recycled and heat-washed PET flakes to a major UK recycled PET bottle manufacturer. (The company’s website)
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Saudi Arabia Plans to Recycle, Export PET Flakes

SIRC announced earlier this week that it has exported its first recycled and heat-washed PET flakes to a major UK recycled PET bottle manufacturer. (The company’s website)
SIRC announced earlier this week that it has exported its first recycled and heat-washed PET flakes to a major UK recycled PET bottle manufacturer. (The company’s website)

Saudi Arabia is accelerating its efforts to enhance the recycling and export of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chips, with the aim to achieve environmental value, attract the European market, empower local industries, and promote a more sustainable future.

The Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC), wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, announced earlier this week that it has exported its first recycled and heat-washed PET flakes to a major UK recycled PET bottle manufacturer, following its successful entry into the European market with shipments to Spain, raising exports to over 1,650 tons.

The PET flakes are produced through SIRC’s joint venture project under YADOUM, MASAB.

In a statement, SIRC said that its export of recycled PET flakes to the UK marks a significant step for YADOUM to enter the British market, a region with tremendous potential for importing recyclable materials.

Member of the Saudi Shura Council Fadel bin Saad Al-Buainain told Asharq Al-Awsat that waste recycling is one of the promising sectors that will contribute to achieving economic diversification and the sustainability of the circular economy.

“Exporting waste brings multiple gains to the Kingdom, including eliminating hazardous waste, strengthening the circular economy system, linking the local recycling system to global markets, and engaging into important and diverse partnerships... within qualitative global trade,” he stated.

According to Al-Buainain, YADOUM’S entry into the British market, which has enormous potential for importing recyclable materials, opens the door wide to broader and more comprehensive export operations, which in turn contribute to the disposal of waste and making use of it economically.

He added that Germany, Austria, South Korea, Wales and Switzerland are among the most advanced countries in the waste recycling industry, underlining the need to benefit from global experiences in legislation, regulations, investment and waste management.

For his part, Professor of Economics at Qassim University Dr. Ibrahim Al-Omar stressed that the recycling industry is considered one of the promising sectors, whether in terms of logistical support, or with regards to direct financial support and concessional financing from government funds.

Waste recycling achieves several benefits, including enhancing environmental sustainability, mitigating the effects of pollution resulting from the disposal of industrial and biological waste, preserving natural resources, protecting biodiversity, and improving the quality of life through environmental awareness and a suitable environment.

Al-Omar continued that investing in this sector stimulates innovation and technology, encourages research and development, and promotes green industries, which are an essential part of sustainable development.

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Russia Readies for ‘Decades’ under Western Sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2024. EPA/ALEKSEY BABUSHKIN/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2024. EPA/ALEKSEY BABUSHKIN/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN
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Russia Readies for ‘Decades’ under Western Sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2024. EPA/ALEKSEY BABUSHKIN/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, 16 August 2024. EPA/ALEKSEY BABUSHKIN/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN

Economic sanctions imposed by the West on Russia will remain in place for decades, even if there is a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, a senior Russian foreign ministry official said on Friday.
Russia became the most sanctioned country by the West after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, surpassing Iran and North Korea. Despite the pressure, Russia's economy grew by 4.7% in the first half of this year.
"This is a story for decades to come. Whatever the developments and results of a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, it is, in fact, only a pretext," said Dmitry Birichevsky, head of the economic cooperation department at the foreign ministry.
"The sanctions were first introduced much earlier. Their ultimate goal is unfair competition," he told a discussion forum in Moscow, according to Reuters.
The panel, entitled "Sanctions against Russia - forward into infinity?" was part of a wider debate in Russian politics and business about whether Moscow should work towards an easing of sanctions or accept them as a long-term reality and learn to work around them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the removal of all sanctions imposed on Russia would be among his conditions for peace. Many Russian businessmen are privately unhappy about the sanctions but fear losing their wealth if they antagonize Putin or top military and intelligence officials during wartime.
Last week, billionaire Oleg Deripaska faced a backlash from hawks after making a rare anti-war statement, describing the conflict as "mad" and calling for a ceasefire without preconditions.
Birichevsky said sanctions had some benefits, forcing Russia to restructure its economy and produce more value-added goods that were previously imported from Western countries.
"In the 1990s, we thought that if we had oil and gas, we could buy everything else abroad. Now we cannot buy that," he said.
He warned that the "sanctions spiral" would continue to inflict more pain, as Western regulators target sectors that are not yet sanctioned.
Western officials have exerted pressure on Russia's trade partners, threatening to cut off their access to Western markets if they cooperated with Russia, Birichevsky added.
He said Moscow was sharing strategies with other sanctioned countries such as Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, aiming to create an international "anti-sanction" coalition to jointly resist Western pressure.