Dubai Dubai Municipality has begun carrying out an ambitious plan to segregate household waste at source.
They have distributed waste bins to nearly 4,000 houses and plan to reach out to other households across the city by early 2013, XPRESS can reveal.
“We started with a few areas including Al Mizhar and Nad Al Hammar. By the start of next year more residential localities such as Barsha 1 and 2 will be included.
Eventually all households in Dubai will be segregating waste at source,” said Abdul Majeed Abdul Aziz Saifaie, Director of Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management Department.
With one of its landfill sites full and the other one nearing capacity, Dubai is facing massive space constraints.
A Dubai resident generates an average of 2.8kg of municipal waste daily. Only a small fraction of it is recycled. By reaching out to households, shopping centres and malls, the municipality aims to attain its target of recycling all waste and send ‘zero waste to landfills’ by 2030.
Targeting malls
The first step was asking shopping centres and malls to segregate waste at source. However, after most of them failed to comply with the 2012 deadline, the civic body has extended the deadline to next February.
A fine of Dh1,000 per day will be imposed if they fail to adhere to the revised deadline.
Shopping centres and malls have also been asked to submit monthly reports on the quantity and quality of segregated refuse.
“We have been able to recycle nearly 20 per cent of the waste that comes from households in Al Mizhar 1 and 2 and Nad Al Hammar,” said Saifaie.
XPRESS spoke to some residents in areas where the municipality has distributed the green and black waste bins.
Lita, a resident of Al Mizhar 1, said: “They explained the benefits of segregating waste and we are following their tips.”
While green recycle bins are meant for cardboard, plastic bottles, glass and cans that can be recycled, the black bins are intended for food waste, disposable cups and containers, meat, dairy, vegetables and tissues.
There are different vans to collect the waste. But some residents complained that collection vans did not come very regularly.
“They told us how we have to segregate waste, but the problem is that the collection vans do not come everyday,” said Hassan Mohammad Sabat.
Another resident Salem Al Shamsi said: “What use are the bins when the waste is not collected everyday? Sometimes they do not come for two-three days and we have to suffer the foul smell.”
Teething troubles
An official from the waste management department said the initial issues will be resolved.
“We have taken feedback from residents. Gradually all households in Dubai will separate their organic and non-organic waste, enabling the emirate to recycle most of its municipal waste,” he said.
