The movement on waste management launched by the Centre of Waste Management in Abu Dhabi is timely. The loss to the UAE's economy — assessed at roughly Dh1.5 billion — is considerable and urgent steps must be taken to address this lapse.
The initiative seeks to reduce waste generation by 80 per cent in the next eight years, beginning with a 45 per cent reduction next year and 70 per cent in the next five years. Commercial establishments will be held accountable via a proposed tariff regime from March 16 to ensure that the targets are met.
The call is for businesses to start reusing and recycling waste, thereby reducing their financial loss and avoid polluting the environment. In order to achieve a good report card, other inventive steps have also been established. Local businesses should adopt these measures as part of their corporate social responsibility.
The goal behind adopting waste management procedures is simple: to extract value from waste by adopting effective landfill procedures, incineration and recycling. It is important to view waste as a resource.
Therefore companies and citizens must get down to robustly engaging each other in proper waste management efforts. This would create a sense of ownership and more importantly, help to sustain the formula.
