Eng. Abdulmajeed Saifaie, Director, Waste Management Department, Dubai Municipality speaks to Swaliha Shanavas about the smart strategies the municipality is constantly adopting to provide the smartest waste management and recycling solutions in Dubai, also highlighting some of the latest initiatives to promote recycling in the emirate. Waste management is one of the biggest challenges that fast-growing economies in the Middle East face, and the concerned governments are taking suitable measures to deal with the issue.

The strategic vision of the Dubai Municipality is to achieve excellence through sustainable practices to achieve the ultimate goal of ‘zero waste to landfill’. And to this end, they have launched several initiatives including the most ambitious Waste Management Master Plan 2030. As per the directives of the Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the emirate has to also attain 75% waste diversion from landfills by 2021. The department has signed many contracts over the past five years and various projects are underway including initiatives to encourage the residents to actively participate in the recycling projects for a greener future.  

Smart Recycling Centres

One such initiative introduced recently in Dubai is the ‘smart recycling centre’, which is “the first of its kind in the Middle East,” says Eng. Abdulmajeed Saifaie, Director-Waste Management Department, Dubai Municipality. The smart recycling centre located at Al Manara Center, Dubai, was the first one to be opened, while the second centre located in Karama was inaugurated this July. The idea of setting up recycling stations took shape as he was talking to some friends from Europe, he states. While they were used to recycling back home, they were forced to throw away the recyclables in the UAE due to lack of such facilities. “This made me think about setting up recycling stations across Dubai. These recycling stations can accommodate at least 17 types of material including plastic, paper, cans, textiles, etc. We have tried to set up these stations in places that are popular and easily accessible so residents would be encouraged to dispose of these recyclables at these stations,” he emphasised.

The whole project is green, says the waste management director. The stations have been constructed with used containers and are equipped with many advanced technologies including energy-efficient solar panels and intelligent relay sensors embedded in the recycling bins, he underscores. The centres are monitored and when the bins are close to being full, the concerned waste management company collects the recyclables. There are plans to introduce many more such centres in different areas to encourage residents to segregate waste and help improve recycling rates in the emirate, he adds. “In Phase 1, we are setting up 13 smart recycling centres in strategic areas in Dubai by end 2016. We will be adding more such recycling stations in 2017,” he highlights. There are also plans to collaborate with shopping centres and cooperatives such as Union Coop to adopt this project. Eng. Saifie opines that such major players should have such recycling stations to encourage people to dispose of recyclables responsibly.

New educational initiative – Portable recycling stations for schools

The waste management department is now planning to introduce 2 portable recycling stations specifically for schools in the last quarter of 2016. This is part of the education process and they would like to impress upon children the significance of recycling at an early age, says Eng. Saifaie. “They need to be made aware that a lot of waste is being produced in schools, a major portion of which is recyclable. There will be more compartments to accommodate additional categories of recyclables (such as batteries, bulbs, etc) in these mobile stations. We plan to place these portable stations in the respective schools and the recyclables will be collected periodically.” In Phase 1, he says they will be working with concerned ministries in order to implement this programme mainly at local government schools. Later on, this could possibly be extended to include private educational institutions.

‘My City, My Environment’ moving ahead

My City, My Environment programme focusing on segregation of waste at source has been covering various residential zones in Dubai for about four years. One more area has now been added, taking the number to 16 locations covered under the project. The department aims to introduce the programme in 6 more areas. They are in the evaluation phase and will be included by the end of this year, Eng. Saifaie states. In his view, the concept is great but people have not yet fully understood the significance and it will take time to adopt these best practices; the main reason being their dependence on maids or other household help to carry out these duties. Unfortunately, the challenge is that the maids frequently change jobs or fail to renew their contract once it expires in just two years. A new person replaces them and the education process has to start all over again to make them understand the concept and encourage them to segregate the waste. “Despite the challenges, we believe that in the long run people’s habits and attitude towards recycling will change. A majority of the residents care about their environment,” he emphasises.

Smart technologies for a green cycle

At present, an average 7500 tons of solid waste is produced in the emirate per day. With the introduction of GPS tracking system, Smart Gate and RFID, the Dubai Municipality aims to reduce to a great extent the waste reaching their landfills and ensure that organisations adopt various recycling methods. They will soon impose a tipping fee that would make a significant difference to the amount and type of waste reaching the Dubai landfills from both commercial and industrial sources, says Eng. Saifaie. Currently, Dubai charges a nominal gate fee of AED 10 per truckload of waste, which had led to waste coming in from other areas as well. The new tariff, which will vary depending on the type of the waste such as mixed waste, recyclables, etc., will also help reduce the amount of waste that reaches Dubai landfills.

Moreover, the department has mandated all waste transport companies to install GPS tracking system in their vehicles so the authorities can track their movements and measure the amount of waste being transported to the landfill. “About 100 private companies have so far installed GPS on their vehicles. Soon, the landfill fees structure (which is in the final stage of approval) will be approved by the concerned authorities. Once this is done, we will give a deadline to these companies to install the necessary equipment and register themselves to be on the tracking system, failing in which, they will not be allowed into the landfill,” Eng. Saifaie underlines. “In 2010 around 11,500 tons of waste arrived at the landfill each day. At that time we introduced the rule that companies needed to get necessary permissions and have relevant stickers on the vehicles to enter the landfill.

Very soon, the quantity reduced to around 7500 tons. Once the tracking system is fully on and the electronic smart gates, RFIDs, etc, become effective, I expect the waste arriving at the landfill to reduce by a further 20%.” They are “packaging it in a smart way – tracking, weightlifting system, smart gate and RFID” he says. From the moment of loading right up to the time the vehicle unloads the waste at the landfill, the department can track every movement and the requisite fee is automatically charged to the company. Again, in a smart move, they have introduced different fee structures; if a company brings in dirty waste the charges will be four times the normal fee; and four times cheaper if one brings in clean waste material, which will go to the recycling station and not the landfill.

The director says, “The hotels, malls and other commercial centres are the ones that produce maximum waste; so it is up to them to be smart enough to have recycling stations at their own facilities so there would be less mixed waste going to the landfill. They will save a lot of money as they would be paying less landfill fee if they take the initiative. Ultimately, it is a positive green cycle that will benefit everyone around.”