Abu Dhabi: The emirate of Abu Dhabi has lost 1,800 hectares of land to landfills so far as it generates 4,745,000 tonnes of waste annually, which adds up to 13,000 tonnes of trash a day. The per capita waste generation is 1.8kg a day which is higher than the rest of the world, according to the Centre of Waste Management, Abu Dhabi (CWM).
The centre's newly introduced tariff regime aiming to reduce waste generation by 80 per cent in the next eight years may reverse this trend, officials told a press conference yesterday.
Through this initiative, CWM is keen to ensure the creation of a safe and healthy environment for future generations by seeking to reduce environmental pollution, Hamad Al Ameri, General Manager of the Centre of Waste Management, Abu Dhabi (CWM), said.
He made it clear that the tariff is not applicable to households which generate just 20 per cent of the waste in the emirate.
Businesses generate 80 per cent of the waste and a fee is expected to prompt them to reduce waste generation and consider recycling and reusing materials. The fee will cover just 45 per cent of the cost incurred by the government on waste management.
The tariff regime will cover the government, semi-government and private sectors. The initiative under the ‘Nadafa' programme drives home the message "Generate less waste and pay less fee!"
The tariff will be based on the volume of waste produced by a firm, Essam Ali Ahmad, a technical adviser at CWM, said. All firms which renew their licences on or after March 16 must register with the centre for its tariff regime and get a no-objection certificate, he said.
The tariff, set for 4,500 waste-generating activities, begins with a minimum annual fee of Dh225 (per tonne) and a maximum of Dh50,000.
Numbers
- 80 % waste generated by businesses
- 20% waste generated by households
- 4,745,000 tonnes of waste a year in emirate
- 13,000 tonnes of waste per day
- 1.8 kilograms of waste per person a day
- Dh225 per tonne-minimum fee
- Dh50,000- maximum fee
- 45 % expense only covered by fee
