Waste Not Want Not

Sharjah's new green and blue bins.

Waste is a massive problem in the UAE. To be precise it costs Abu Dhabi over $400m each year to process 30,000 tonnes of it. Much of it ends up swallowing landfill space when instead it can be effectively recycled and re-used.

Abu Dhabi Municipality this year set up the Nadhafa (cleanliness) program which levies tax from companies on waste disposal. This, it hopes, will cut waste production and ensure safe treatment of it to avert damage to the environment.

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The decision was made as part of the capital’s overall aim to be crowned one of the world’s top five cleanest cities. This year, it awarded a contract worth more than $77m to Averda to help it achieve this goal. And it’s on track, confirms Malek Sukkar, CEO, Averda.

“We are right on track and keep on improving and expanding our scope of work and services in order to achieve and help achieve this great initiative. Last month we announced the launch of iaverda, a first of its kind, high-tech waste management application for the UAE. It will allow communities to quickly address any waste issue in their area, by reporting the incident directly to us.”

Bee’ah announced a similar aim of achieving zero waste in Sharjah by 2015. The plan involves recycling, reusing or utilising all resources that are disposed as materials for one use or another. Bee’ah is looking to the Netherlands for inspiration, whose waste diversion rate stands at 98.2%.

“All the commitments and strategic objectives for the last five years have focused on recovery, allowing us to already achieve 34% of waste diversion from the landfill,” said Khaled Al Huraimel, CEO, Bee’ah. Now it is time to take the next step and prepare for our new strategic objectives to treat waste and convert it into useful material, with a commitment to achieve zero-waste to landfill by 2015.”

But public support and backing is essential for such ambitious targets to be met. Najib Faris, head of marketing and communication for Bee’ah said that due to the UAE’s exposure of environmental issues in the last four years, the country has caught on to the concept of recycling and waste management very quickly.

“Bee’ah was established in 2007 and we are one of the first in the region. Only four years ago did that market start. The difference has been that we are in a market that has been very exposed [...] they see it on TV, hear about it, and read about it on the internet. People have been somewhat in touch with the idea of recycling and protecting the environment.

“Our job was a lot easier to penetrate the market than job of any company in US or Canada 40 years ago when this was a completely new thing. As proof, when we put out our first 52 recycling bins in Sharjah the usage was 40% correct.”

Today that figure stands at 85% and over 1700 recyclers can be found across Sharjah. Last recorded, they had collected a total of 1.5 tonnes of recyclables. Rewards certainly help to achieve this aim which is part of the reason both companies introduced the recycling vends.

Following successful launches in Lebanon and the UAE, Averda has gone on to launch its reverse recycling vending machine (RVM) at the eco-Q exhibition in Qatar. It will now showcase it at the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) 2011 in Beirut.

Located in high traffic areas such as shopping malls, schools, universities, sports venues, hypermarkets and private communities, Averda’s RVM, whose technology was provided by Norwegian company TOMRA, allows customers to deposit their recyclable plastic bottles and aluminum cans in return for coupons that can be redeemed at participating partners.