Eng. Abdulmajeed Saifaie, Director of Waste Management Department, Dubai Municipality, talks to Swaliha Shanavas about the latest developments in Dubai with regard to waste management and the new strategy and specific measures the department is adopting in addition to the programmes that have already been launched, to ensure they are on track to achieving the ultimate ‘zero waste’ goal and attaining 75% waste diversion by 2021.

Waste management is one of the biggest challenges that fast-growing economies face, and various government authorities are taking appropriate measures to deal with the issue. The strategic vision of the Dubai Municipality is to achieve excellence through sustainable waste management practices to achieve the ultimate goal of ‘zero waste to landfill’. And to achieve this goal, the waste management department has 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.

Waste Sorting infrastructure

Keeping in mind all the goals, during the last 3 years Dubai Municipality’s waste management department signed two new contracts to build waste sorting facilities in the emirate, says Eng. Saifaie. That will add up to 3 Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) including the earlier facility that is currently operated by Tadweer. One facility will be in Al Bayader Landfill, while the second facility will be set up in Al Qusais Landfill. “As per the contract, these two facilities can take in 1000 - 2000 (maximum) tons of municipal waste per day for sorting. In the first stage the agreement is to accept 1000, but the operator might expand the facility to absorb 2000 tons later. By the first quarter of 2016 these facilities will start operations. Once these 3 facilities are fully operational they can take in more than 60% of the municipal waste generated.”

In addition, Dubai will soon have Recyclate Collection Centres for the public in certain central locations. A tender is out as well and the waste management department will soon sign an agreement in this regard. “By 2016 there will be certain locations where people can drop off the recyclables such as cans, glass bottles, plastics, cardboard boxes, television, computer, etc, for recycling or reuse. For Phase 1 we are planning 10 such centres in different areas of Dubai, especially commercial areas,” he explains.

Waste segregation at commercial establishments

Dubai Municipality has also been targeting commercial establishments such as malls, hypermarkets and shopping centres and so on, to effectively promote waste segregation at source. Eng. Saifaie says, “We need to send across the message of waste minimisation and segregation to everyone in the emirate including shopping centres, malls, industrial and commercial establishments as they also have the responsibility to support the municipality’s initiatives since they generate a lot of waste on a daily basis.”

The municipality had earlier issued a circular to these establishments to install colour-coded bins. Further, the concerned parties were asked to submit a monthly report on the quantity and quality of segregated wastes to the waste management department. The deadline was also extended to give them enough time to adopt these measures, but till date there has not been much progress on this front.

So now the waste management department is taking a smart approach. “We requested them nicely to segregate their waste, and we didn’t want to force them or implement fines, but they did not comply. Till now they have also not been paying any fee, as dumping waste was free. But once the landfill fees come in, they will face issues,” he stresses.

GPS tracking system

The department 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. At present Dubai charges a nominal gate fee of AED 10 per truckload of waste, which the department feels had led to waste coming in from other emirates as well, leading to huge amounts of waste being dumped in these landfills.

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 that reaches Dubai landfills. Moreover, they have introduced the GPS tracking system and mandated all waste transport vehicles to install the system in their vehicles beginning January 2016, so the authorities can track their movements and also measure the amount of waste the vehicle is bringing into the landfill. “We expect some companies could be taking advantage of the lack of fees in Dubai and bringing waste from various parts of UAE and dumping it at the Dubai landfill. That’s why we signed a contract with one of the local companies to put in place a Vehicle Tracking system. In Phase 1 we have started with our vehicles, but we have already informed all the private companies that by January 2016 no waste transport vehicles will be allowed into our landfill without their being online with us. They should have a vehicle tracking system and this should be connected to our system so we can follow their movements,” states Eng. Saifaie. The GPS system not only allows the waste management department to track these vehicles, but it also gives the weight of the vehicle including the load. So, once the private sector vehicles are online, from the time they start in the morning till the next day, the department gets to know the points at which they stopped, at which point and how much they loaded. “We have already fixed Electronic gates at our landfill. So when the vehicle passes through this gate, with the help of the vehicle tracking system it will immediately calculate the weight and indicate the same on the system. By then, hopefully we would have also introduced certain tariff for our landfill, which is another aspect we are working on. There is going to be some discharge fee for waste at our landfill,” he notes.

Tipping fees to make significant difference

The waste management department is soon introducing various tipping fees. There will be 3 different fees depending on the type of waste (he did not reveal the exact amount) – “A certain fee for full mixed waste; a different fee if it’s recyclable – but this fee will be less than around 50% of the former type (mixed waste); and a certain fee for mixed including recyclables. This will encourage people to segregate waste,” Eng. Saifaie comments.

“We tried to do it kindly, it didn’t work. So we are trying to work it out smartly. Once there is double charge the commercial organisations will also comply – we are doing it differently, but we think it will work. At the end of the day, if the organisations are smart they will consider the costs, and it will be economical for them to segregate their waste.” “All these systems – the electronic gates, the vehicle tracking system and the fees – will all be integrated together to have a very effective system,” he says. This will go parallel with other projects as per the agenda for the emirate of Dubai – that by 2021, 70% of the waste should be diverted from landfill, and “you need a lot of awareness programmes and the required infrastructure facilities in order to achieve this.” In Eng. Saifaie’s view, once this system is fully functional, there will be around 10-20% reduction of waste straight away, as there will not be any illegal dumping. “Once this system is in place, I would not recommend any company to take the risk of bringing any waste from other emirates or engage in any illegal dumping!” he remarks.