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The UAE is building one of the world's largest waste-to-energy plants to deal with its trash load. Above, workers sort solid waste material in the material recovery facility at the Bee'ah waste management complex in Sharjah.
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A smaller plant - the UAE's first on a commercial scale - will start operating this year in Sharjah.
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The $1.1 billion Sharjah waste-to-energy plant is under construction at the Bee'ah waste management complex in Sharjah.
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Solid waste during processing on conveyor belts in the material recovery facility at the Bee'ah waste management complex in Sharjah.
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Once two other projects in Abu Dhabi are completed, the country may incinerate almost two-thirds of the household waste it currently produces.
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Aluminium drinks cans are sorted for recycling in the material recovery facility.
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Waste-to-energy produces emissions, which is why it's usually considered suitable for disposing only of the final remnants of trash after all recyclable materials have been extracted.
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Workers during construction of the $1.1 billion Sharjah waste-to-energy plant at the Bee'ah waste management complex in Sharjah.
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For Sharjah, opening the plant will mean it can plug its dumpsite. Bee'ah, the company managing Sharjah's waste, says it will create green spaces and install a 120-megawatt solar-power facility on top and produce hydrogen from the garbage to fuel its rubbish trucks.
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A worker bulldozes solid waste in the storage area of the material recovery facility.
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Bee'ah Chief Executive Officer Khaled Al Huraimel said he wants to build more waste-to-energy facilities in the region, including Saudi Arabia. "They're starting from scratch, but we started from scratch too," he said.
Image Credit: Bloomberg