The UAE is among the highest generators of waste per capita. In Dubai alone, the daily garbage output per person is an average of 2.3 kilos a day. Multiply this by Dubai’s population — 2.2 million — and you realise the impact on the landfills. But there is good news too. The UAE is also employing some excellent recycling measures to combat the waste output and turn most of it into alternative energy forms such as biodiesel and biomethane. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah have set a zero waste-to-landfill milestone for themselves by 2020 and every emirate is looking to recycle the bulk of waste — organic and inorganic — and reduce the carbon footprint significantly.
For example, Abu Dhabi recycles discarded tyres — 53 per cent of used tyres were recycled in 2013 — to produce environment-friendly rubber granules that are used for a host of purposes. Dubai has plans to turn food waste into gas energy and Sharjah is steadily decreasing its waste to landfills each year. Amidst this nation-wide effort, the people of the UAE have a huge role to play — by first segregating their waste at source and second, generating less of it.
