Disposing e-waste in a safe manner as part of consolidating the principles of environmental sustainability

• Lujain Al-Qenaei: We are keen to activate various sustainability-related initiatives.

As part believing in the importance of applying the principles of sustainability, and in line with the international standards and guidelines of protecting the environment, Gulf Bank announced safely disposing around 18 tons of e-waste, in cooperation with ‘Enviroserve’ – a local facility specialized in solid waste management and recycling.

On this occasion, the Manager of Corporate Communications at Gulf Bank, Lujain Al-Qenaei, said that the bank is keen to safely dispose electronic waste periodically, as part of consolidating the principles of environmental sustainability in society. She explained that the electronic materials that have been recently disposed, vary from tablets, computers, printers, monitors, keyboards, phones, servers, switches, wires, and other various metals.

Over the past two years, Gulf Bank has disposed around 22.3 tons of e-waste, ranging from laptops, printers, monitors, currency counting machines, landline phones, and other electronic devices.

Al-Qenaei mentioned that the Bank's employees follow all the necessary safety measures when disposing electronic devices, starting from the transportation process until their disposal. Whether it’s through compacting, recycling, or using other methods of disposal, Al-Qenaei stressed on the importance of cooperating with companies specialized in this field. This is to ensure the reduction of environmentally harmful waste in landfills, and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and save renewable resources.

She further indicated that the purpose of this project is to safely dispose e-waste and protect the Bank's data in a proper manner – as this process guarantees that all reusable materials are recycled back into the economy, to avoid illegal waste disposal in regular landfills as much as possible.

Al-Qenaei reviewed the bank's efforts in protecting the environment through various methods such as: The safe disposal of electronic and solid waste, and the implementation of digital banking services, that help minimize paper waste through online and mobile banking services. In addition to organizing and sponsoring many sustainability-related events and initiatives annually – the latest one being the launch of reusable bags in collaboration with five major cooperative societies in Kuwait.

She also referred to the initiatives that Gulf Bank hosts regularly, of which include reducing carbon emissions and paperand supporting youth initiatives in establishing projects related to environmental sustainability, through its strategic partnership with INJAZ, Kuwait.

Al-Qenaei affirmed that Gulf Bank is keen to activate various sustainability-related initiatives, to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Kuwait Vision 2035, and the Bank’s 2025 Strategy. She further noted that Gulf Bank has recently issued the second sustainability report for the year 2021 and is currently working on issuing the third report for the year 2022.

It is worth mentioning that ‘Enviroserve’ is the first recycling facility of its kind in Kuwait, supported by The National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Development, and is specialized in recycling electronics, paper, cardboard, plastic, as well as mixed and solid metal waste.