Dubai Municipality has launched a strategic sustainable waste management project in the Hatta region in collaboration with Imdaad. The project – ‘Outsourcing Waste Collection, Transportation, and Recycling Services’ – seeks to bolster the municipality’s operations through stronger partnerships with the private sector while advancing the goals of the ‘Zero Waste in Hatta’ campaign.
The primary goal of the project is to effectively divert various kinds of waste from landfills, thereby enhancing sustainable waste management services in Hatta. It also aims to promote a sense of social responsibility for environmental initiatives in the region among both residents and visitors. This objective will be accomplished by implementing effective waste management practices that boost Dubai’s position as a sustainable city, which will further encourage individuals and communities to adopt eco-friendly choices. These measures also support the municipality’s integrated waste management strategy, which aids in further enhancing Dubai’s global appeal, overall quality of life, and sustainability goals.
As part of the programme, Dubai Municipality has transformed the Hatta landfill into an advanced facility from where segregated waste can be transferred to treatment sites in Dubai. The facility, spanning 60,043 square metres, comprises an administrative office and a waste disposal zone. Some 20 tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated on average daily in Hatta and, in effect, this trash is diverted from landfills. Additionally, the project will also take care of 27 tonnes of agricultural waste from across the region daily, ensuring it is sent out in a suitable form to the Warsan waste-to-energy plant.
The Hatta waste management project is expected to benefit a total of 1,147 residential units. The municipality has distributed over 2,500 new waste storage and collection containers, each differentiated by its colour. Recyclable waste is to be disposed of in green containers, while non-recyclable waste goes into the black ones. These containers also feature illustrations and instructions to help with waste segregation and to raise public awareness about the significance of correctly segregating waste at source.
His Excellency Dawoud Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality, emphasised how the project embodies Dubai Municipality’s strategic objectives to slash waste generation at source, increase recycling and processing rates to achieve zero waste in Hatta, and transform the region into a model city. These goals are also consistent with the tenets of the circular economy concept that Dubai has set its sights on, besides the goals and pillars of Dubai’s Integrated Waste Management Strategy 2021-2041, which seeks to implement best practices for recycling and waste management, while promoting innovation in tackling environmental challenges.
Integrated initiatives
HE Al Hajri commented: “At Dubai Municipality, we are adopting strategic and integrated initiatives and projects in the field of sustainable waste management, thus strengthening Dubai’s global standing in sustainability and hygiene. Given that Dubai has maintained its position as the cleanest city in the world for the last four years, according to the Global City Strength Index published by Mori Memorial on behalf of Japan, this is of paramount importance.
“In keeping with the vision and directives of the leadership, Dubai Municipality is proceeding with the modernisation of all public-facing government services. More importantly, the municipality will continue to implement best practices in environment-friendly community projects to uphold the highest standards of living for residents, enhance the emirate’s quality of life, and safeguard residents’ health and safety,” he added.
Boosting its contract with Imdaad, Dubai Municipality has assigned an integrated field team that is equipped with all the necessary tools, vehicles, and systems to collect, store and transport waste on a regular basis from all over Hatta. Comprising of 75 cleaners, 12 supervisors, drivers and vehicle operators, besides a fleet of 20 vehicles, and other systems, the team ensures timely completion of tasks, as well as the salvage of recyclable materials from various centres.
Through the course of the project, Dubai Municipality has organised direct outreach programmes involving over 900 families in Hatta, also engaging with the staff of 20 educational institutions and 300 farms. For its part, Imdaad has implemented the ‘My Environment’ programme to raise awareness among schoolchildren about the need to promote recycling, waste segregation at source, and environmental protection initiatives. These themes were reaffirmed during the ‘Environment Month Competition’, which witnessed the participation of several public and private entities including the Hatta Sports Club.
In keeping with the programme’s goals, the company will also work with Dubai Municipality to organise awareness visits for students aged seven and above at the Imdaad Farz factory in the Jebel Ali community.
Successful strategy
Since 2012, Dubai Municipality has successfully tapped the outsourcing strategy for the ‘Collection, Transport and Recycling of Waste’ service under the name ‘My City .. My Environment’ in 16 subregions of the emirate including Jumeirah (1, 2, 3), Al-Safa (1, 2), Umm Suqim (1, 2, 3), AlManarah, Umm Al Sheif, Al Barsha (2, 3), Al Mizhar (1, 2), Muhaisnah 1, and Nadd Al Hammar.
Over 18,000 residential units have benefited from the project, and the municipality has added 36,400 residential storage containers to promote better waste management in these areas. The civic body has also deployed 65 multi-utility machines and 300 field workers, all of which contribute further to its goal of promoting a sustainable society.