Waste Management by Burning waste in UAE

Waste management is an environmental issue that a number of countries have difficulty dealing with efficiently. The United Arab Emirates has taken the initiative to build one of the world’s largest waste to energy plants. This is to combat the growing trash load in industrial areas and landfills.

This 1.1 billion dollar facility will be tasked with burning garbage to generate power. This project goes side by side 3 other smaller plants in the Emirates of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Taking all these operations into account, the UAE is estimated to incinerate almost two thirds of the household waste currently being produced.

However, this process of converting waste to energy produces GHG emissions. Therefore, it is usually only considered suitable for the disposal of final remnants of trash after all the materials that can be recycled have been extracted. This seems counter productive to the UAE’s goal to net out GHG emissions by 2050. Despite the negative effects of the process, there is little that the Gulf region can do to stop the giant landfills on the outskirts of the desert from piling up. While there are a number of facilities for sorting waste, there are few that deal with recycling and upcycling waste. While these new endeavors can have negative effects in the future, the UAE government is confident in its ability to make the process greener and cleaner in the coming years.

The chief executive of Bee’ah, the company managing the waste in Sharjah mentioned that this plan is still in the works. The country has started from scratch to develop this concept and is continuing to work on refining the idea to minimize the harmful aspects of the same.

Having lived in UAE for the first thirteen years of my life, and still holding residence there, I am a regular visitor to Dubai. I am witness to the dedication of UAE and the leadership of the country towards a green and sustainable future. I am eagerly waiting for the outcome of this project to see how waste management is managed effectively by burning waste to generate power with minimal GHG emission.

References

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-29/uae-to-burn-mountains-of-trash-as-china-stops-importing-waste