TEHRAN (Iran News) – Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi on Tuesday in meeting with Japan Ambassador to Tehran Ikawa Kazutoshi said Tehran can take advantage of Japan’s experiences in dealing with urban waste and renewal of dilapidated urban areas.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the unveiling ceremony of Reverse Vending Machines (RVM) which was held in Tehran Municipality Mayor’s Office. RVM is, on the contrary to usual vending machines, you can get money from it when you put empty plastic bottles or cans into the machine. They are used all over the world in order to promote recycling. InTehran, many people deal with the urban waste with their own hands. Considering thisCOVID-19 situation, “regular” urban waste may become “hazardous” waste, increasing risk of spreading the virus.
In the meeting, Hanachi said Tehran like any big city in the world is involved with challenges like traffic, air pollution and water issues, adding that over 240 years is passing since Tehran was chosen as the capital city of the country and it seems King Aqa Mohammad Qajar has correctly chosen the city as the capital.
He added that the municipality has currently some plans on agenda for resolving traffic problem, expansion of the public transportation and Tehran metro in less than recent decade has progressed 50 percent physically as seven metro lines have been launched and three more lines are in the pipeline.
He admitted that sanctions condition has made tough the condition for providing wagons but due to our experience in wagon manufacturing, the country has designed and implemented the national metro train, adding that the municipality has plans to minimize air pollution through using electric car in the public transportation fleet like taxis, bus and even private cars.
Hanachi then pointed to Japan’s experience in the fields of urban waste and renovation of the old urban areas can be taken into consideration in Tehran Municipality, and expressed his willing for Japan’s share of its experiences in these two fields with Iran.
He reiterated that the coronavirus pandemic has eased virtual meetings and expressed hope some measures are taken for communication of Japan’s municipality experts with their counterparts in Tehran.
He then briefed Japan envoy of the process of recycling the urban waste, adding that currently the amount of waste in Tehran has declined to 5700 tons from 7200 tons after taking measures since he took office in the municipality.
Hanachi said despite heavy traffic and air pollution, Tehran enjoys having protected its diverse historical and natural attractions.
Japan envoy, for his part, said that Tehran metro system has been expanded considerably and it is due to efforts of the municipality, adding that metro system in Japan has also progressed and if the sanctions saga was resolved, Japan could have exchanged its experiences and new technologies in this field.
He added that one of the main problems of Japan is its aging population which has forced the governments to spend more for the public welfare while Iran’s population is young and for this reason Iran has not faced any problem yet but in the future it may face.
Mr. Iwakata then pointed to cooperation between Iran and Japan in the fields of managing natural disaster, air pollution and measuring the pollutants, providing medical equipment in Imam Hossein (AS) hospital, adding that his country is determined to continue the cooperation in different fields.
He then announced his country’s readiness for sharing its experiences in dealing with the urban waste and renovation of the old and dilapidated urban areas.
