JUBAIL: The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu celebrated World Environment Day for the fifteenth time, with an event called “Beat Air Pollution,” organized at Al-Fanateer Cultural Center in Jubail’s industrial city.  The event included an environmental exhibition during which the commission recognized and rewarded companies with the best environmental performances in 2018. “This event focuses on the environmental challenges facing industrial activities globally, which are considered a great source of pollution, as well as other factors that have a greater impact such as agriculture, transport, sand storms, volcanic eruptions and forest fires,” said the director of the Royal Commission’s Environmental Control Department, Owayed Al-Rashidi. “The celebration aims at highlighting these experiences and spreading information regarding the role of industry in mitigating pollution,” he added, noting “corporations in Jubail’s industrial city have received numerous international prizes in the fields of sustainability and environmentalism. “Jubail is home to a company that won the environmental initiative award after recycling 60,000 tons of waste in 2015. The commission values such companies and it will try to honor them and support sustainability in the city.HIGHLIGHTS •The theme for 2019, ‘Beat Air Pollution,’ is a call to combat this global crisis. • The celebration of this day provides an opportunity to broaden the basis for an enlightened opinion and responsible conduct. • Since it began in 1974, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in more than 100 countries. “Companies with the best environmental performance are all on the right path. They are resorting to the best modern technologies and respecting the Kingdom’s environmental sustainability standards, which made it hard for us to reward some and not others. “The commission has set environmental sustainability standards in order to improve technologies needed to recycle industrial waste, now considered a vital resource and a pillar of the national economy,” Al-Rashidi continued. “Industrial waste is now being used in ‘downstream’ industries. We currently have 10 companies that recycle industrial waste in Jubail, where we reached a recycling capacity of 56 percent in 2018, and we are seeking to raise it to 58 percent. “The commission had an initiative registered with the National Transformation Program 2020 to recycle 57 percent of the industrial waste. In fact, we will achieve almost 60 percent, and will go even higher after 2020.”