- Title: West Bank factory recycles cellulose-rich palm fronds into paper
- Date: 8th October 2019
- Summary: JERICHO, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PALM FRONDS BURNING SMOKE IN AIR / PALM FRONDS BURNING FARMER, MOHAMMED KATAM, BURNING PALM FROND PALM FRONDS BURNING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FARMER, MOHAMMED KATAM, SAYING: "We collect the palm fronds in the farm and we burn them because it affects the farm and creates palm mites. So we get rid of them by burning them. We urge concerned parties like the agriculture ministry to bring machines to grind these fronds in order to be used as fodder for the livestock. There is a factory in the industrial zone which uses these (palm fronds) to turn into paper, but the factory can't absorb the whole quantity of fronds that we have. So we have to burn them in order not to cause us troubles in the farm and keep it clean." WORKERS PROCESSING FRONDS AT FACTORY MACHINE GRINDING PALM FRONTS GRINDED PALM FRONDS POURING OUT OF MACHINE WORKER PROCESSING GRINDED PALM FRONDS GRINDED PALM FRONDS BEING PROCESSED ON MACHINE WORKER WATCHING OVER MACHINE PROCESSING PALM FRONDS WATER SPRAYING ON PROCESSED PALM FRONDS PAPER ROLLS PROCESSED ON MACHINE VARIOUS OF HEAD OF PAPER PAL FACTORY, TAREQ SAADEH, WORKING ON MACHINE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF PAPER PAL COMPANY, TAREQ SAADEH, SAYING: "We consume (recycle) around 35 percent of the palm fronds in Jericho (farms) and we hope that soon we will use more and will be able to take all the quantity." ROLLS OF PAPERS ON MACHINE VARIOUS OF WORKER CUTTING ROLLS OF TOILET PAPER WORKER ORGANISING TOILET PAPER ROLLS VARIOUS OF WORKER PACKAGING TOILET PAPER ROLLS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MANAGER OF PAPER PAL FACTORY, TAREQ SAADEH, SAYING: "The palm fronds is a new source of income to the farmer. When the farmer used to cut (the palm fronds) in his farm, he used to pay a lot of money to collect the, the palm fronds and burn them. Now farmers collect them (palm fronds) and sell them to the factory as raw material and the factory buys it with a good amount of money." VARIOUS OF FARMERS LOADING TRACTOR WITH PALM FRONDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF PALM FARMS COUNCIL, IBRAHIM DAIQ, SAYING: "We hope that the factory will have bigger capacity in order for us to give them more quantities (of palm fronds), and to recycle them in the future into towels and cardboard. We use large quantities of cardboard to pack the Palestinian dates." FARMER BURNING PALM FRONDS SMOKE / BURNING PALM FRONDS VARIOUS OF FARMS
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2019 12:40
- Keywords: Recycling in the West Bank West Bank factory recycling palm fronds Palestinians Jericho Palm fronds
- Location: JERICHO, WEST BANK
- City: JERICHO, WEST BANK
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Pollution,Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA001B08K3TH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Palestinians working in palm tree farms in the West Bank city of Jericho are forced to inhale the aches of burning palm fronds every day, but one recycling factory is working to eliminate this health risk.
Farmer Mohammed Katam, 31, can't help but burn most of the palm fronds in his farm to keep it clean, but he sends part of it to the nearby Paper Pal factory for recycling.
The factory, established in 2018, is collecting nearly 35 percent of the total amount of palm fronds left out by farmers in the city, says Tareq Saadeh, the factory's manager.
The Japanese government offered more than $384,000 to fund the factory, which produces high quality and eco-friendly toilet paper from palm fronds.
It produces eight tonnes of toilet paper daily to be sold in local markets. Saadeh plans to produce notebooks as well.
The date business supports nearly 4,500 Palestinians in Jericho and the Jordan Valley region, of whom 1,500 are women, according to the Palm Farmers Cooperative Association (PFCA).
Palm farms stretch over an area of 22,000 dunum (5436.3 acres) in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, with production reaching 10,000 tonnes per year.
(Production: Roleen Tafakji, Adel Abu Nehme, Suheir Sheikh, Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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