khaleej times Tuesday, July 31, 2012

[775707]

StaffReporter

Dubai is reviewingwastemanagement fees inthe emirate as part ofits efforts to reach anambitious goal of zero

landfilling by 2030, officials said.TheDubaiMunicipality has em-

barked on an integrated waste

management master plan for thenext 20 years and the focus of theplan is to reduce the waste gener-ated in the emirate and sent to itslandfills, said Abdulmajeed Abdu-laziz Al Saifaie, Director of WasteManagement Department.With just aminiscule of the total

waste generated here getting re-cycled, the civic body aims toachieve a long-term target of recy-

cling the entire waste generatedand dumping zero waste in land-fills.A revisionofwastemanagement

fees is among the initiatives beingplanned to prevent waste genera-tion and landfilling and encouragerecycling, said Al Saifaie.“We are reviewing all the fees

related to waste management ser-vices. This will include entry fee at

the landfills (tipping fee) and themunicipal fee for waste manage-ment services levied from compa-nies when they make or renewtrade licenses,” he told KhaleejTimes.However, he did not clarify if

Dubai will start charging privatecompanies a flat rate for the wastethey generate, like the one imple-mented by AbuDhabi last year.

Wastedisposalfee in focus

IMDAAD

Setting newbenchmarksinwastemanagement

IMDAAD, a leading provider ofintegrated facilities managementis specialised in providing sustain-able solutions that complementthe green building policies andenvironmental regulations thatare being increasingly introducedin the region and worldwide. Thecompany uses environment-friendly equipment and sustain-able business practices and tech-niques to address the facilitiesmanagement needs of clients,giving them complete freedom tooperate in a safe, secure and cleanwork environment. Studies haveshown that integrated FM solu-tions have an immediate and di-rect impact on the environmentand the sustainable growth of anybusiness enterprise, creating sig-nificant savings in terms of reduc-tion of energy usage, improvedwaste management and reducedtotal lifecycle costs of facilities.Waste management has been a

core expertise of Imdaad as thecompany commits itself to delivertangible solutions to address thegrowing volumes of waste beingproduced in the UAE and acrossthe GCC. Imdaad provides solidwaste management, liquid wastemanagement, infrastructurecleaning and recycling services tovarious corporate clients and inte-grated communities such as JAF-ZA, Palm Jumeirah, Burj Khalifa,Al Reef Villas, Emaar verticalcommunity, and Jumeirah BeachResidence, among others.Recycling is one of the pillars of

Imdaad’s waste management

strategy in conjunction with gov-ernment-led recycling pro-grammes. Moreover, Imdaad un-derstands that communityinvolvement is essential for wastemanagement and recycling pro-grammes to succeed and becometruly sustainable. Imdaad hastherefore initiated and supportedenvironmental campaigns such asthe ‘MyCity,MyEnvironment’ ofDubai Municipality, wherein Im-daad offers its resources and ex-pertise to collect general wastedaily and recyclables in selectedcommunities inDubai, while con-ducting door-to-door campaignsto increase awareness about theimportanceof recycling andwastemanagement.Imdaad has not only shown its

commitment to establish itself asa leading FMcompany through itsstrong focus on quality and itsability to provide a comprehensiverange of integrated services, buthas also demonstrated a genuinecommitment to being a sociallyresponsible corporate entity. TheBe’ati initiative as a printed news-letter, for instance, has beenlaunched by Imdaad as a part ofthe CSR programme that aims toeducate school children on theimportance of recycling and envi-ronment protection.

Dubai Municipality is responding to thedemand for effective waste managementthrough an integrated approach usingsustainable methods

Company takes the leadin providing sustainablesolutions and recyclingservices besideslaunching awarenessinitiatives in the emirate

Jamal Abdulla Lootah

KHALEEJ TIMES /ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL Protection isa buzzword today and greater em-phasis is laid on being greener andeconomically friendly, wasteman-agementhas becomeavery impor-tant topic.WasteManagement is acomplex process involving variousstages like collecting waste mate-rial and processing it in some way,or trying to recycle it. People andindustries nowadays realise theneed to have efficient means andwaysof the things theyuse, and theway they dispose them of as im-proper waste management canhave health, safety and environ-mental implications or impacts.Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ) be-

ing an eco-conscious industrialfree zone focusesonefficientwastemanagement practices across theindustries in HFZ. Industries areencouraged to collect, segregate,transport and dispose the domes-tic, industrial andhazardouswaste.Administrative procedures are inplace wherein industrial facilitiesare facilitated in obtaining neces-sary waste disposal permit, theaforesaid wastes are transportedand disposed ensuring the wastegeneratorsdispose thewaste in linewith the legal requirements andareperiodicallymonitoredby theenvi-ronmental protection department.HFZA has successfully imple-

mented thedomesticwastes segre-gation from our office buildings inassociation with Beeah — TheSharjah Environment Co. Our em-ployees are very much motivatedto segregate the office wastes byapplying ‘3R’ principles (Reduce,Re-use, Recycle) through tailor-

made concept-bins to facilitatethis. We also strongly encouragerecycling technology based inves-tor community to set-up their in-dustrial facility in Hamriyah FreeZone.HamriyahShe-QClubandHam-

riyahGreen Team are our non-for-mal, not-for-profit forums throughwhich HFZ constantly createsawareness, motivates, encourages

the industrial communities bysharing our best practices on vari-ous areas of safety, health, environ-ment and quality as part of sharedlearning. Future waste manage-ment strategies is to develop anintegratedwastemanagementplanfor HFZ, community recycling inHFZ labour camps etc. which willdefinitely be a value addition forour efforts to becomea sustainablefree zone.As we enter the third quarter of

the current year, I am proud to an-nounce the registrationof824newinvestors from 80 countries. With5,700 companies from across 140countries now operating out ofHamriyah, I believe, the measureof our success lies not in the num-bers but inbeinghands-onwith theemerging social concerns and pri-orities of both our internal and ex-ternal stakeholders, and making asignificant, visible difference to theHFZA community.

RashidAl Leem,DirectorGeneral, SharjahDepartmentof Seaports&CustomsandHamriyahFreeZoneAuthority,shares his thoughts onwastemanagement

Eco-conscious industrial free zone

Rashid Al Leem

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 khaleej times

[775710]

ZENATHGroup of Companies isa subsidiary of ETA-Star Group, adiversifiedgroupbased in theUAE.Zenath Recycling and Waste Man-agement is one of the largest wastehaulage companies in Dubai. Thedivision offers a wide range ofwaste management services and isengaged in the haulage of the fol-lowing from industrial houses,companies, construction sites,shopping malls, hotels, schools,residential complexes.

General non-hazardous•wastesConstruction wastes•Industrial wastes•Hazardous wastes•Medical wastes (from hospi-•tals and clinics)

The consortium Zenath, Mit-subishi Corporation and PlantecInc. Japan has successfully con-structed and commissioned thefirst-of-its-kind incinerator formedical waste at Jabel Ali, Dubai.

The incinerator employs theworld’s latest vertical incinerationtechnology with the best emissionnorms to decompose medicalwaste through thermal incinera-tion. It has a capacity of incinerat-ing medical waste of 19.2 tonnesper day (24 hours).

Explains Mahmood Sait, Assis-

KHALEEJ TIMES /ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT WASTEMANAGEMENT

ZENATHGROUPOFCOMPANIES GE

Reducing, recyclingandreusingwaste

Addressingwater scarcity

The company hascommissioned first-of-its-kind incinerator formedical waste in Dubai,which employs the world’slatest vertical incinerationtechnology to decomposemedical waste

Nabil Habayeb

LET the truth be told: There nevercan be enough water for everyman’s need on planet Earth.

We are talking of a natural re-source that, for all practical pur-poses, covers some 71 per cent ofthe earth’s surface although mostof it is sea water. Only 2.5 per centof our planet’s water bodies arefresh water sources.

The scarcity of water resourcesis compounded in the Middle Eastand North Africa region with itsclimate and terrain. Yet, this re-gion, with nearly 5 per cent of theworld’s total population, witnessesarguably one of the largest growthrates in water demand.

A report by UK-based corporaterisk intelligence firm, Maple Croftpoints out that the MENA econo-mies perform poorly in an indexthat rates the supply of fresh waterto societies and businesses. TheGCC nations have been ranked as‘high risk’ by the index.

A UN report reiterates the situa-tion: By 2025 some 30 nationsacross the world would fit the de-scription of being ‘water scarce’ ofwhich 18 will be in the MENA re-gion. Water scarcity threatens notjust the immediate requirement ofdrinking water. It has a direct bear-ingon foodsecurity—withagricul-ture in the MENA region leading inwaterconsumption—aswell as im-pacting the manufacturing sector,sanitation and healthcare, and theoverall social security.

Managing water supply effi-ciently is not an option anymore. Itis imperative, and only concertedefforts that involve the public sec-tor, private enterprises and thepublic at large can attain tangibleresults.

According to estimates some 85per cent of the water in the MENAregion goes for irrigation — under-lining the importance of exploringcost-competitive water reuse op-tions. With very little realistic pos-

sibility of new freshwater sourcesbeing added, the practical optionbefore policy makers is to invest indesalination, waste water treat-ment and recycling.

Governments are making sig-nificant investments in addressingwater scarcity. Saudi Arabia plansto double its desalinated wateroutput to2.07billion cubicmetresannually by 2015, while the UAEspends billions of dirhams annu-ally in driving its desalinated wa-ter supply which is projected to bearound 14 per cent of the world’stotal desalinated water output.

GE, through its Water Centre ofExcellence in Jebel Ali Free Zone,supports treatment of some 90million litres of water every day,and nearly 800 million litres perday across the company’s custom-ers in the MENA region. In all, GEtechnologies have been used tosupply more than 1.45 trillionlitres of water across the region.

However, with demand for wa-ter growing exponentially, the ur-gent need is to focus on enhancingwater use efficiency.

Taking into consideration thegrowing demand for energy andthe interplays between the powerand water sector, GE has beenchampioning the need for reverseosmosis and electro-de-ionisationtechnologies in the desalinationprocess which are less complex,leads to lesser carbon footprintand are more energy efficient.

A key thrust area should be onlocalised innovation. GE’s centreof excellence emphasises on train-ing its local partners on advancedwater technologies and in jointlyexploring cost-effective solutions.

A tangible change in addressingwater shortagecancomeonlywiththree key integrated aspects: En-hancing water use efficiency, pro-moting water reuse and drivingon-ground innovation.

Upholding these is critical todrive regional social and econom-ic stability.

GE has been championingthe need for reverseosmosis and electro-de-ionisation technologies

Nabil Habayeb

JSA Bukhari, ExecutiveDirector, Zenath, speaksabout the importance ofwaste management and alsothe need to create awarenessabout the subject

The GCC is among the top10 waste producing nations inthe world because of its largeexpatriate population and pe-rennial visitors, who heavilycontribute to the output ofenormous garbage in thesecountries. Besides this, a largenumber of developmental ac-tivities are still taking place —demanding thepresenceofmil-lions of expatriates and visit offoreigners thereby increasingthe output of garbage in this re-gion. The challenges that weforesee are: Proper waste man-agement like collection, trans-portation and disposal in aproper manner, reduction, re-cycle and reuse of garbage.There should be technologiesfor recycling and end-users forrecycled materials to convertthem into by-products again.Waste management is not gov-ernment’s responsibility alone.

More than the government, it isthe responsibility of an indi-vidual, a company and an insti-tution. As a private operator, weare not only into collection anddisposal of waste but also intro-duce new technologies forwaste management. We havecommissioned an incineratorplant for medical waste atDubai Municipality’s dumpyard, which has won awards forits design and efficiency as ithas got thebest emissionnormsfor toxic gases. In the subconti-nent, many people make a live-lihood out of recyclables col-lected from garbage. There areplenty of rag pickers who col-lect paper, carton, plastic, alu-minium cans and sell them toshops to make a living. But itcannot be done here because ofthe economic condition andstringent government rules pre-venting such activities.

tant General Manager, ZenathGroup: “The critical aspect of anywaste management programme ispublic awareness and participa-tion. The various stakeholders inthe process need to work togetherto achieve theobjectives.Thegov-ernment, the operator, the devel-oper and the recycling companyshould all be working towards acommon goal.” He feels that Can-ada and Japan are at the forefrontof this field and there are manylessons for the rest of the world tolearn from them. The Japanesehave mastered the art of turningwaste to energy, and Sait believesthis is where the future of wastemanagement lies.

While the rest of the ZenathGroup is poised to bring in newtechnology to the region and be-yond, the paper recycling divisionhas long been a pioneer in its field.G Vyas, Deputy General Managerof Zenath Paper Traders has been

associated with the group for over22 years. Like Sait, he too believesthat creating awareness is the big-gest step forward in a successfulwaste management programme.“We arrange visits from schoolsand colleges to our paper recy-cling plant. It is important to cre-ate awareness among children atan early age,” he says.

Zenath recycling and wastemanagement lays great emphasison safeguarding the environmentand creating awareness amongthe people about the necessity totake care of the environment forthe welfare of humanity. The divi-sion is one of the main sponsors ofenvironmental awareness cam-paigns by Dubai municipality andEmirates environmental group(EEG) like clean up the world andclean up UAE campaign, or-ganised with a motto to inculcatereduce, recycle and reuse con-cepts.

Pay heedto theenvironment

Goklendra Vyas

Mahmood Sait

JSA Bukhari

khaleej times Tuesday, July 31, 2012

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