New waste management system launched in Dubai

Dubai: The civic body on Tuesday launched a new waste management system targeting private transport companies to record the collection point of rubbish right up to the municipal landfill.

The municipality’s new programme, “Duty of Care,” is part of the authority’s move in achieving the target of Dubai’s Vision 2030, in achieving an environment friendly city that matches to global standards.

“Our aim is to understand the areas and the types of waste produced, their locations and quantity, so that we can efficiently target our waste awareness programmes in the correct areas,” Eng Abdul Majeed Saifaie, director of waste management department at Dubai Municipality, told Gulf News yesterday.

As part of the municipality’s implementation of the programme, more than 90 per cent out of the 84 private transport companies that dispose waste at the landfill have attended workshops to comprehensively understand the new system.

Saifaie explained that the new rules are set to make companies committed to follow the Transfer Note System, Waste Classification System and Mandatory Waste Segregation system of the municipality.

“As part of our goal, we want to know what type of waste is produced, whether it is general or recyclable, and also how much waste each sector produces, such as hotels, shopping centres, or residences in the free zone,” said Saifaie.

As part of the new regulations, which was implemented earlier in the week, drivers of private waste collection vehicles will have to fill out two forms per trip — one to be signed by the collection site and the other at the landfill. All the information will then be submitted to the Summarized Electronic Data section at Dubai Municipality, on a weekly basis.

“Duty of Care is required for cradle-to-grave recording of waste. Each load of waste delivered to a waste management facility would require a multi level consignment note which will have records of where the waste came from, who carried it and who received it for disposal or treatment,” he said.

The Duty of Care Form, which categorises details of waste from specific geographical locations and sources, clearly documents how much waste is produced from different sources, including commercial, industrial, institutions, and residential.

It also clarifies the type of waste collected as to whether it is municipal solid waste, scrap, plastic or green waste, and includes the name of the waste producer.

“We also want to gradually reduce the amount of waste in landfills as part of our goal in sustainable waste management, as recycling the maximum potential of waste is a priority of ours,” he added.