Dubai: Recycling is set to get a major boost in Dubai with a series of new initiatives planned in the coming years, a senior official said.
The initiatives are an integral part of the zero-landfill target by the year 2030, which aims to divert virtually all waste from the landfill by then.
The plans include sorting waste at source, building new recycling facilities, financial benefits for green waste collection companies, and awareness campaigns.
Abdul Majeed Saifaie, director of the waste management department at Dubai Municipality, said though the recycling rate — 12.5 per cent as of last count in 2013 — has been increasing over the years, it can be much higher if the right steps are in place.
Under ideal conditions, for example, 60 per cent of the waste at the landfill can be recycled, Saifaie said. That represents a huge potential in environmental savings, considering 7,700 tonnes of solid municipal waste is collected every day in Dubai.
But that is not feasible in actual practice.
Saifaie explained: “If we categorise waste, 30-38 per cent is organic food waste. So the rest [paper, plastic, glass, etc] could be recyclable. But that is only in best conditions. Because there’s no sorting, most of it is dirty. The recyclable waste is getting dirty, that’s why it is losing its value. It’s of no more use, what’s the use if it gets dirty?” said Saifaie.
So, the waste needs to be sorted before it reaches the landfill lest it becomes contaminated or unsuitable for recycling.
Dubai does have a main sorting facility — Tadweer — which recycles household solid waste, but it alone is not enough for the amount of waste produced.
“If [Tadweer] is fully operational, they can take up to 1,000-2,000 tonnes, but over that we have already signed two more facilities which will be in operation by mid-2015. Those two facilities will also help to segregate and reduce the waste by 70 per cent.”
In 2013, 380,000 tonnes of waste was recycled in Dubai and the rate has been increasing steadily since 2009, figures show. Data for 2014 is still being tallied.
The capacity building projects will extend to food and organic waste, which forms a huge chunk of the total waste profile of any big city.
Saifaie said: “We’re also planning on having a facility for organic treatment by 2015. In 2015, hopefully, there will be a lot of facilities whose contract will be signed. I don’t mean operational, that takes some time.”
The director explained that the organic waste will not be “recycled” in the conventional sense of the word, but converted into compost and energy.
“Food waste will be ‘digested’ into compost, making gas in the process, which you can turn into electricity [by using gas-fired turbines]. The main interest everywhere in the world will be electricity [production using such means].”
Other types of waste — construction and demolition [CND], medical and hazardous waste — are also being tackled.
He added: “We’re not only working on one kind of waste, we are working in parallel. For medical waste, we already have an incinerator and also we’re planning to build another facility for medical waste to increase the capacity. That will be done between 2015 and 2017 because it takes more than two years to build one.
“We are already launching our tender for CND… We’re doing a new contract for CND with different conditions to recycle.”
Meanwhile, medical and hazardous waste that cannot be recycled, as “that’s very dangerous to do”, is destroyed.
Saifaie pointed out that recycling is “a shared responsibility”, with residents, establishments and private waste management companies all playing a part.
The municipality-led My City, My Environment initiative is rolling out free recycling bins in front of villas in 15 areas so far, so residents can separate general waste and recyclable waste when they put the trash out.
However, the bulk of the population lives in residential towers, which only have one chute for garbage disposal. Saifaie said officials are considering introducing a double chute system in new buildings in the future, so recyclable waste can be collected easily.
“With the existing buildings, we cannot do anything. There is a big cost for the owner. But I’m sure in the future, we will have new regulations for the green buildings, which will come out soon.
“Hopefully, we will have something like double chutes in the future as a standard of the green buildings. Exactly when, I cannot say.
“We’re now seeing the green codes coming up. A part of it should be [concerning] the double chute. It will only apply to the new buildings, but not now, maybe later on.”
In the meanwhile, tenants in new or old buildings can still take simple steps towards recycling, he said. They can segregate recyclable waste into separate trash bags and tie them with green ties, for instance.
“You can still segregate, it’s no big deal. You can use two bins in the apartment, put waste in two different colours. You can tie it green for recyclable or black for general,” he suggested.
Waste collections companies then will be able to divert recyclable waste to sorting and recycling facilities. The private companies play a key role in the waste management chain in Dubai, where 70 per cent of the waste is collected by them.
Saifaie said authorities are mulling a waste dumping tariff system to encourage recycling. Currently dump trucks only pay an entry fee at the landfill.
“This is a suggestion, it’s not yet approved, but I think we will have a higher fee for mixed, dirty waste, and a much lower fee for clean waste to encourage people to dump clean waste. Once we have the facility, there will be much lower charges for clean waste at this facility.
“It’s your choice: you have dirty waste, you go pay this much. But if you have clean waste, you take it to those facilities, which l think may be less than half the price. So, it’ll encourage people to do recycling.”
The municipality also has a budget worth “a few million dirhams” for raising awareness on the importance of recycling in society, he added.
The director stressed there are no plans to make recycling mandatory for residents.
