American University of Sharjah hosts landfill reclamation conference

The American University of Sharjah (AUS) hosted a three-day International Conference on Landfill Site Remediation last week. Experts from around the world discussed issues relating to landfill mining technology, preparation of landfill sites and remediation technology.

The conference served as a forum to exchange information on reclaiming Sharjah's old landfill areas and associated environmental issues. The conference also included a field trip to a Sharjah landfill site.

Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, inaugurated the event. He hailed the work of the Environmental and Protected Areas Authority of the Government of Sharjah in protecting the environment through landfill remediation methods and by establishing new ones in accordance with the latest international standards and regulations.

Landfill sites
Coordinator of the conference and Professor of Environmental Sciences Dr Hassan Tayyem of the College of Arts and Sciences at AUS was happy with the attendance at the conference and believed it had met participants' expectations.

The emphasis, he said, had been put on improperly-constructed landfill sites. Different case studies had been presented. However, the concentration was on the landfill sites in Sharjah.

"Twenty-five years ago, we had a dumpster near the University City of Sharjah when this area was still a desert and far from civilisation," said Tayyem. "Now Shaikh Sultan has issued an order to clean the site. This will be done through excavating the waste till the clean soil is reached, sorting the waste, sending hazardous materials to other landfills, and reusing what is useful."

Robert Cook, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at AUS, said, "The economic, health and aesthetic benefits of such projects are evident to us all. The science and technology involved are interesting and challenging. The project in Sharjah undertaken by the Emirates Environmental Technologies is one of the most important of such projects in the GCC — if not the most important."

Commenting on students' participation and interest in the conference, Tayyem said that students helped to organise the event and were eager to be part of it.

"Students have to be involved in environmental issues. In fact some of the capstone courses in our environmental programme require students to look at different industries and analyse the impact of each one on the environment. They are required to come up with solutions to the problems they face and compare them with what they have learned," he said.

According to Tayyem some senior students enrolled in the programme are currently working on phyto-remediation projects, under which they are studying plants that absorb toxics and grow despite the environmental conditions of lack of water, hot weather and toxic waste.

Awareness
"The environmental science students are well aware of the environmental problems in the world.

I was very impressed with the students during a recent visit to Lebanon where they visited the American University of Beirut, the Lebanese American University and the Saint Joseph University where they discussed various environmental issues and came in contact with many environmental students and clubs," said Tayyem.

Cook said that the landfill conference is an opportunity for students to listen to emminent international speakers about new developments in the field.

"We are also pleased that Emirates Environmental Technologies will give our students the opportunity to get firsthand experience by working in internships on this project," he said.
Reflecting on the need of conferences that address other environmental problems, Tayyem said that there are various global issues worth discussing such as global warming, Ozone and acid rain.

Yet, he said, "What I believe is more important is to study issues that relate to the UAE like scarcity of water, water pollution and recycling. When we teach we need to look at case studies. Unfortunately what is available is American or European examples. We need to create a database of Arab cases."

Along with AUS, the conference was organised by the University of Sharjah and the Environment and Protected Areas Authority of the Government of Sharjah.