Hala Al Khayyat (Abu Dhabi)
Dr. Salem Al Kaabi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Center for Waste Management “Tadweer” said that the center succeeded in treating 11,242 tons of medical and hazardous waste in the emirate last year, and recycled about 2.9 million tons of demolition and construction waste.
Al-Kaabi indicated, in an interview with Al-Ittihad, that the center succeeded in increasing the capacity in treating medical waste from 4 to 20 tons per day of medical waste treatment, and mobile stations were used to incinerate medical waste, which helped a lot in achieving sustainable efforts to deal with With this waste with great support from government agencies.
And he indicated that the center succeeded in dealing with waste contaminated with the “Covid 19” virus and response mechanisms, by operating a backup treatment unit in Abu Dhabi, supplying 3 mobile incinerators to the state, providing additional vehicles by environmental service providers in the private sector, and other solutions that It contributed to the center playing a strategic role in the state’s efforts to confront the “Covid 19” pandemic.
He explained that the medical waste varied between bandages, bandages, contaminated mattresses, syringes, needles and surgical equipment, as well as waste from blood and tissue laboratories, pharmacy waste and those resulting from treatment with radioactive materials and others.
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Salem Al Kaabi
random throwing
With regard to the center’s response to the indiscriminate throwing of waste, Al Kaabi stated that the center monitored during the past year more than 14,000 cases of random emptying of sewage violations, about 25,000 cases of waste transport vehicles exiting outside the borders of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and more than 764,000 cases of authorized entry to stations. official.
In this context, he pointed out that the center, through its cooperation with the three municipalities in the emirate, and knowledge of the sites where the random dumping of waste takes place, was able to control the problem and monitor violators.
Future projects
Al-Kaabi revealed the future projects that Tadweer will implement during the next eight years, in order to achieve the desired goal, which is to reduce waste transferred to landfills by 80% by 2030, knowing that the current percentage is 40%.
He pointed out that the past year witnessed the launch of initiatives for the governance of operational and future projects to raise the efficiency of performance, and the signing of two memoranda of understanding and a bilateral memorandum with government agencies to develop the waste management sector. The smart inspection system was created and developed through the smart platform “Smart Hub”, and the creation and development of technical manuals for the development of the infrastructure for the collection and transportation of municipal solid waste in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the allocation and operation of spray vehicles during sterilization campaigns.
Among the projects that will be implemented this year, Al Kaabi indicated that the center will implement two projects during the first half of this year to convert solid waste into energy, recover materials and produce biofuels.
The first project is based on the idea of sorting and grinding waste, and converting the remaining waste into special fuel for cement factories in Abu Dhabi, with a capacity of 850,000 tons annually. The center is working to intensify its efforts to expand the scope of the project to include the city of Al Ain in the second quarter of this year. With a capacity of 450,000 to 500,000 tons annually, this is in addition to signing a special tender in cooperation with the Emirates Water and Electricity Company to convert waste into energy in Abu Dhabi this year.
Al Kaabi said: The center is in the process of launching a project to collect greenhouse gases from the Al Dhafra landfill, and a project for engineering landfills, which will play a prominent role in protecting groundwater from waste intrusion into it, and collecting the resulting greenhouse gases, treating them and converting them into energy to operate the landfill facilities.
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Medical waste treatment plants (from the source)
Among the projects that will be implemented soon are the construction of engineering cells, the project of converting waste into fuel for aircraft, the project of converting waste to energy, the project of recovering materials and producing biofuels, issuing an introductory business card for workers fighting public health pests and the waste sector, and providing an electronic manifest platform for other government agencies Connecting with the system of the Department of Municipalities and Transport, importing waste from outside the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, closing customer service centers and providing a call center through the “Tamm” center for government communication.
waste sorting
With regard to sorting waste from the source, Al Kaabi explained that the center’s policy is centered on a new trend based on providing 16 special centers that help the public sort waste, and the center looks forward to increasing the number of these centers to reach 35 sorting centers by 2023.
With regard to the cooking oils recycling project, Al Kaabi explained that a permit had previously been granted to a private company to complete this project, and another company is expected to start its work in achieving this goal by the end of the first quarter of this year, and these two companies will work through the use of an electronic application to collect oils. From the public, a private e-waste recycling facility was also licensed, which has been operating since last year.
public health pests
The Director General of “Tadweer” Center indicated that the foci of spread of disease-carrying pests decreased last year by 56%, and the number of smart mosquito traps was increased by 200 traps, bringing the total number to 640 traps distributed in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the number of service requests submitted to the public amounted to 103,922 in the year the past.
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