On June 4, 2026, Kurdistan Foundation, through its environmental initiative Climate.KRD, launched the second phase of its recycling project in the Zakho Independent Administration, one day before World Environment Day.

The Kurdistan Foundation says the initiative aims to encourage responsible waste management, reduce plastic pollution, and promote a culture of recycling across the Kurdistan Region, in addition to discouraging the burying and burning of plastic waste.

“Zakho is one of the key cities in the Kurdistan Region that has experienced significant development in recent years. According to municipal data, the city currently produces approximately 300 tons of waste daily, of which around 8% consists of plastic,” Sakar Omer Ali, Public Relations Manager at the Kurdistan Foundation, told Kurdistan Chronicle.

“The implementation of the second phase of the recycling project in Zakho aims to both support the city’s ongoing development and address a pressing environmental challenge. The primary objective of the project is to reduce and ultimately eliminate the practices of burying and burning plastic waste by introducing a more structured plastic recycling system.

“The project focuses specifically on separating plastic waste from general household waste through designated waste bins, enabling more efficient collection and recycling processes.”

In 2025, the Kurdistan Foundation’s Climate project deployed 500 recycling bins across Erbil and Duhok during the first phase of its project. The Climate Project aims to install an additional 150 recycling bins in Zakho. 

The Kurdistan Foundation stated earlier that installed bins were expected to collect around 750,000 plastic bottles per month, equivalent to approximately 9 million bottles annually, resulting in an estimated reduction of more than 216 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

“In the long term, this initiative is designed to be scalable, with the potential to expand to additional cities across the Kurdistan Region, contributing to broader environmental sustainability and improved waste management systems,” Ali concluded.