As a specialist environmental services company, Arteko deals in all sectors of waste management, recycling and sewage water treatment.

The Germany-based company counts more than 40 years of experience in safeguarding the environment through consultancy, equipment, technologies, project management and environmental solutions.
A major participant at Gulf Industry Fair, Arteko has been operating for more than three decades in the region since opening in Kuwait in 1978 and subsequently opening offices in Bahrain, says Boris Uhlig, the managing director the company.
The portfolio of services provided by Arteko covers consumer waster and industrial waste including the provision of waste bins, containers and equipment, sorting plants, tyre recycling, e-scrap recycling, composting plants, sewage treatment and wind energy converters. 
Uhlig emphasises that recycling is a key component in environmental solutions by reducing the need for conventional waster disposal and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This involves proactively processing used materials into new products in order to prevent the waste of these potentially useful materials, reducing the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution, and water pollution through landfill.
“Recycling is a key component in modern waste management and is the third component of the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ waste management hierarchy,” says Uhlig.
Paper can be recycled by reducing to pulp and combining it with newly harvested trees. Glass bottles and jars can be gathered by a curbside collection truck and bottle banks where the glass may be sorted into colour categories, he explains. The collected glass is then taken to glass recycling plant where it is monitored for purity and the removal of contaminants.
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastics and reprocessing the material into useful products. Compared to glass or metallic materials, plastic poses unique challenges and precise identification is necessary, he says.
Ferrous metals such as iron and steel are the world’s most recycled materials, and among the easiest materials to reprocess, as they can be separated magnetically from the waste stream. Non-ferrous metals such as aluminium is one of the most efficient and widely-recycled materials. Aluminium is shredded and grounded into small pieces or crushed into bales, he says.
As committed environmentalists, Arteko recently launched a green initiative to make Bahrain a recycling nation, which could be rolled out as early as next year.
According to Uhlig, the idea is to distribute bins across the country for free collection of recyclable waste. A campaign encouraging people to recycle and separate their waste would also be part of the initiative.
The project was presented by Environment Friends Society (EFS) president Khawla Al Muhannadi and Uhlig during a meeting at the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Support Centre in Tubli recently. The event was attended by NGOs and representatives from the public and private sectors.
“People aren’t used to segregating their waste here and for years we have been trying to get them to do this,” says Al Muhannadi. “But we need containers and manpower to collect the waste. We also need companies to sponsor the initiative and an awareness campaign about the procedure itself. We started this a long time ago and had a company that recycled, but the problem was they found it difficult to collect the waste and didn‘t provide containers.”
Arteko had agreed to provide the containers and help with the recycling free of charge, but was looking for NGOs and private sector companies to support other elements of the initiative.
“We will start sometime next year with paper and different plastics and in the future hope to segregate the plastic further and recycle glass,” she says.
Participants explored other opportunities for green community programmes and education.
The meeting was organised by EFS in collaboration with Arteko.