The UAE’s ambitious waste diversion goals can be achieved if more businesses make waste management a top priority within their organisations and adopt best international practices industry experts explained during a workshop recently hosted at Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The workshop, organised by member companies of the Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network’s Task Force on Waste Management, called for the widespread adoption of integrated waste management strategies within the business community with the aim of helping the UAE meet its target of diverting 75 percent of all municipal solid waste away from landfills by 2021 as outlined in the National Agenda of the UAE Vision 2021.
During the workshop, representatives from Dubai Municipality said integrated waste management should be a strategic and well-planed approach that controls waste generation, promotes source segregation and collection. The government entity’s presentation outlined various waste minimisation practices used by Dubai Municipality as per its plans to divert waste away from landfill by 2030 and highlighted the benefits of using a smart bin management and waste exchange systems.
According to Dulsco, the best way to manage waste is to also identify the different categories of waste produced, the quantum of waste produced, various recycling units and how each category with the available quantity can be transported to recycling unit.
Averda’s presentation emphasised the importance of the human factor in contributing to waste management, noting that more should be done to encourage employees and customers to change their behaviours towards waste.
For its part, Enviroserve highlighted that its equally important to identify the e-waste, reuse, recover and recycle it for effective management. E-waste on one hand contains harmful chemicals like lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic that should be prevented from going to the landfill. On the other hand, electronic waste also contains many useful metals like copper, brass, aluminium, gold andsilver. that can be easily recovered and recycle to make useful products, the presentation noted.
Presentations from Farnek and Dgrade stressed the importance of adopting a transparent system of waste collection and management, and shared the companies’ case studies involving employees participating in recycling campaigns which resulted in 3000 plastic bottles collected and sent for recycling to make polyester yarn, adding that the ability to see the tangible results encouraged participants to continue using the system.
Established by the Chamber’s Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), the Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network serves as the focal point for the business community to share and exchange best practices in implementing CSR. The network provides an opportunity for local companies to network, learn, share experiences and constitute CSR leadership.