Photos: UAE is building one of the world's largest waste-to-energy plants

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.

A smaller plant - the UAE's first on a commercial scale - will start operating this year in Sharjah.

The $1.1 billion Sharjah waste-to-energy plant is under construction at the Bee'ah waste management complex in Sharjah.

Solid waste during processing on conveyor belts in the material recovery facility at the Bee'ah waste management complex in Sharjah.

Once two other projects in Abu Dhabi are completed, the country may incinerate almost two-thirds of the household waste it currently produces.

Aluminium drinks cans are sorted for recycling in the material recovery facility.

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.

Workers during construction of the $1.1 billion Sharjah waste-to-energy plant at the Bee'ah waste management complex in Sharjah.

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.

A worker bulldozes solid waste in the storage area of the material recovery facility.

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.