(by Paolo Titta) In recent years the waste management market in the United Arab Emirates has expanded dramatically, allowing the Middle Eastern country to sign commercial agreements with many Mediterranean countries, including Italy itself.
The federal government has estimated the set of projects related to the environment, with a projection to 2020, even around 100 billion dollars, of which a substantial portion is represented by the rapid growth of the municipal solid waste sector, per capita production which sees the Emirates among the global leaders. The green economy will presumably be worth 300 million dollars in just two years, compared to the current 260 million, a line already deeply drawn by the Emirate of Sharjah which has proved to be a pioneer of separate collection, recycling and energy transformation.
It is for this reason that foreign companies, having identified this as a great commercial opportunity, have decided to invest capital, cutting-edge technologies and their over ten-year experience to work in joint ventures with numerous local companies.
Such as the Belgian Besix did, which in collaboration with the Swiss Hitachi Zosen Inova
has been awarded a municipal contract in Dubai to set up a recycling site that will put more than 5mila tons of solid waste daily to be converted into energy.
The potential was also sniffed out by Ambienthesis, which recently announced that it has entered into an agreement with Bee'ah Sharjah Environment, a company in the United Arab Emirates that deals with both collection and separation, as well as waste recovery and disposal. urban and special, as well as renewable energies. The object of the collaboration is above all the sharing of know-how and technologies, with the aim of developing shared initiatives in the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East and Europe, both in the waste management and waste to energy sectors, as well as in that of land and water reclamation.
“According to the World Bank, the UAE produces about 2,2 kilos of municipal solid waste per person per day. Leading environmental company Beeah collects around 3 million tons per year. It is a fast growing sector ”said Abdalla Alshamsi, consul general of the Emirates in Milan.
Since it is a country in continuous economic, urban and demographic growth, the sudden production of waste has forced everyone to become more aware of the challenges that waste management currently presents.
The short-term goal is the one shared by the Vision 2021 agenda for which 75% of the UAE's waste must be directed to landfills, while at the same time 27% of the energy needs must come from clean sources. “This is why there are many opportunities for Italian companies. An important sector is e-waste, of which the UAE produces about 100 thousand tons per year ”explained Alshamsi himself. Then adding how "the transformation of waste into energy is relatively new for the Emirates and therefore the integrated waste management activity has reached an annual growth rate of 8,5 percent".
The diplomat himself stated that there are many territorial actors interested in market processes, "from governmental companies, such as Tadweer, and semi-governmental companies such as Beeah to local ones: Imdaad, Dulsco, Trashco, Tanzifco and Blue as well as international companies such as Averda , Suez, Veolia. But despite the large presence, a Frost & Sullivan report predicts that the potential waste market could double in the next five years ”. Focusing on special waste, the Frost & Sullivan Research report reads as "while so far the waste in the Gulf countries has mostly come from the construction sector, today we are witnessing the impetuous growth of electronic waste, hazardous industrial waste and materials biomedicals for which there is a need for environmentally friendly treatments with additional capacities to those available ".
To achieve these objectives set for 2021 and 2030 respectively (for zero waste), the country needs to invest in waste treatment facilities, especially those concerning special materials and industrial waste.
"Our company was created in 2007 to achieve the sustainable growth objectives that the Emirate has set itself and the progress has been significant in less than a decade we have tripled the rate of waste that is not sent to landfill and we are now at 76 per cent, the current highest share in the entire Middle East that puts Sharjah on the path to achieving the objectives written in the Eau Vision 2021 program ”said Beeah president Salim bin Mohamed Al Owais. Continuing on how this collaboration was made possible thanks to the creation, by the company, of sites specialized by type of waste. The plant that deals with plastics, for example, is one of the largest in the entire area, as are those for tires, cars and metals. On the other hand, the sites for processing wood, for recycling used oils and PET plastic are in the start-up phase.
The company also plans to expand into MENA countries, so the president himself stated that "now we also provide services to some sites in Dubai, we have started operations in Abu Dhabi and opened an office in Riyadh and are exploring opportunities in Oman and Bahrain ".
The director of the Ice in Dubai Gianpaolo Bruno thus stated how this “is a sector in turmoil, the sensitivity for integrated waste management is growing sharply even if a high percentage of this waste still ends up in landfills. In May of this year, the federal government passed the first legislation among all the Gulf countries that gives shape to the ambition to manage up to 75% of the solid waste generated in the country outside the landfill ”.
The same companies have had an involvement in the new directives for the reduction of specific types of materials. “Italians have a lot of skills in this field” concluded Bruno “thanks to companies that offer innovative technological solutions. In the medium to long term, many business opportunities will open up. But there is a need to create a system ”.