Sustainability is more than an ecological ideal; it is a matter of practicality. Treating landfill as an end in itself is simply unfeasible in the long term.
Although some might be able to ignore the environmental damage caused by such an approach, the fact that space is a finite resource is – ultimately – inescapable.
In order to achieve a sustainable future, we will need equipment capable of managing the waste that we produce.
In this special report, PMV speaks to a host of waste management experts to learn about the plant and machinery being used to improve the Middle East’s green credentials.
Compaction in action
Figures from Dubai Municipality and Al Shirawi Enterprises explain how Tana landfill compactors are improving efficiency at the Al Qusais solid waste dumping area
Dubai Municipality recently took delivery of two new Tana E520 landfill compactors. Whilst you might not immediately associate this news with sustainability, it’s worth considering that these machines have been purchased as part of the authority’s long-term goal to eliminate landfill waste by 2030.
Purchasing new landfill compactors in a bid to eliminate landfill might seem like a somewhat counterproductive strategy, but in order to achieve its ambitious target, the Municipality has to modernise the waste management facilities that are currently in operation. It is for this reason that officials opted for Tana.
The E520 units were supplied by Al Shirawi Enterprises (ASE), Tana’s official distributor in the UAE. The new landfill compactors will team up with two previously acquired Tana waste management machines at the solid waste dumping area in Al Qusais, Dubai.
The Municipality has been working hard to acquire the latest waste management technology so that it can achieve a situation of zero landfill within the next two decades.
For example, Green Energy Solutions & Sustainability LLC has established a gas and flaring plant at the Al Qusais facility. Essentially, this is a waste-to-energy plant that converts gas emitted by landfill into power. It is hoped that the new Tana machines will further improve efficiency at the site.
“We are currently finalising our master plan for 2030,” said Abdulmajeed Abdulaziz Saifaie, director of Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management Department. “The main objective of this plan is to reduce landfill waste. By 2030, we aim to have completely eliminated landfill waste in Dubai.
“We want to reach a position whereby everything is recycled,” he continued. “To achieve this, we plan to use waste-to-energy plants. We are currently in the process of building a new landfill facility close to the Al Ain road. However, this will be a much more technically advanced facility, and will feature the latest in waste management engineering.”
In contrast to conventional landfill compactors, the Tana E520 features a twin-drum design. This arrangement means that fewer passes are necessary in order to achieve a smooth and dense surface. The machine’s rigid frame adds to the overall crushing force, and the Finnish manufacturer’s patented ‘crushing teeth’ system serves to optimise the spreading and crushing of waste.
Saifaie and his colleagues estimate that the Al Qusais facility will reach full capacity within five to seven years, depending on how much waste is delivered to the site. In order to maximise the lifespan of the dumping area, equipment such as the Tana E520 landfill compactors will be vital.
“The E520 landfill compactors seem to be easier to operate than some of our other equipment,” said Saifaie.
“This is because of their design. They are also more comfortable for our operators. For these reasons, we have decided to take two of the machines on trial. However, I expect that we will require additional machines for our other facilities in the future.”
Each piece of equipment purchased by the Municipality undergoes rigorous scrutiny to ensure that it is aiding the efficiency of waste management operations. The latest Tana landfill compactors are no exception.
“We will study the machines’ efficiency during operation,” explained Humaid Saeed Almarri, director of Dubai Municipality’s Transportation Department. “Within six to 12 months, we will have a full performance report and we will be able to see whether there have been any maintenance issues.”
In terms of maintenance, Tana’s ProTrack system will help ASE experts and Municipality officials keep track of the working condition of the E520s. The proprietary information management system offers remote access for quicker and more accurate trouble shooting. If a problem arises, critical alarm notifications are sent to relevant users via e-mail, and scheduled maintenance reminders are also distributed as a matter of course. Also present at the handover was ASE executive director Thani A Al Shirawi. He believes that the Municipality’s choice of waste management machinery is a reflection of its commitment to modernisation and sustainability.
“Dubai Municipality’s decision to opt for Tana landfill compactors is proof that it is moving towards a sustainable future,” he explained. “As far as I know, Dubai is the only city in the GCC – and perhaps the Middle East – that has stopped compacting with bulldozers. Bulldozers are not designed to compact; they are designed to bulldoze. Even so, people still try to use the weight of bulldozers to compact waste.”
Tana machines have been well received by the Municipality in the past, according to Al Shirawi, and he is confident that the new E520s will also impress.
“Tana E520 landfill compactors are far more efficient than bulldozers because they have been designed specifically for the purpose of compaction,” he concluded.
“They do not rely solely on their weight to compact waste; their drums and crushing teeth have been optimised to aid faster and more effective compaction. The number of trips that the machines have to take in order to do their job is minimised, and the operator can achieve much more during a typical working day.”
Turning waste into wealth
Mil-tek’s Darren Laird explains how companies across the GCC are using the baling and compacting machinery to transform waste into cash
Danish firm Mil-tek has been operating in the GCC since 2007. The international supplier of balers and waste presses offers solutions for the compaction of various materials, including cardboard, plastic, paper, polystyrene, tins, cans, and mixed waste. According to Mil-tek Middle East’s export manager Darren Laird, the overriding philosophy of the firm is to get its customers to see the financial benefits of sustainability. “Our machines encourage companies to recycle,” he explained.
“As a company that manufactures and supplies waste balers and recycling equipment, Mil-tek clearly has an environmental overlook. In addition, we’d like to encourage our customers to look at their waste, not as waste as it might have been viewed in the past, but as a commodity. Waste is something that can actually be used to generate revenue. At the same time, recycling helps the local environment so companies will become greener.”
Few question the validity of the environmental argument, but sadly, it doesn’t have the capacity to incentivise like cold, hard cash. Laird argues that if Mil-tek can point out the financial advantages of recycling, the green benefits will follow.
“Everybody produces waste in one way or another, whether it be in small or large volumes,” he said. “Quite frankly, the Middle East is a few years behind Europe and the United States in terms of recycling, but progress is being made in the region. What Mil-tek is trying to do is to provide the financial encouragement necessary to speed things along.
“Waste is a commodity like gold or oil,” Laird added. “It has fluctuating markets. Our machinery enables users to transform their waste into a format whereby waste collectors actually want to take it away.”
There are two prices for waste on the world market: loose and baled. Loose waste is only worth a small amount of money because it requires a large amount of input from the collector.
Baled waste, on the other hand, can be stacked safely and compactly onto trucks, thus minimising transportation costs. As such, recyclers will pay up to five times more for baled waste than for loose waste.
“Mil-tek balers are different than conventional units as they are operated pneumatically,” explained Laird.
“Air-operated balers offer a number of benefits. First and foremost, they are very energy efficient. Our EcoDrive device provides a baler with an artificial intelligence, allowing it to measure waste resistance underneath its pressing plate and to adjust itself accordingly.”
In addition to balers, Mil-tek offers waste management products such as air-powered waste presses and polystyrene compactors. The manufacturer is able to cater to a wide range of requirements, from small commercial kitchens to Dubai’s busy malls.
Significant progress has been made in the Middle East’s recycling sector, according to Laird. In his opinion, the key to future growth is education.
“When you’re talking about recycling equipment in an emerging market, it can take some time for people to understand what the machines are there for,” he explained. “However, more and more people are now beginning to see the benefits of this type of technology.
“I am confident that the Middle East will eventually catch up with Europe and North America in terms of recycling,” Laird concluded. “Once the people of this region set their minds on achieving something, it tends to happen fairly quickly.”
Master Planners
Experts from Atkins Global and WSP Middle East discuss policies and fixed plant technologies that will help the region to build a sustainable future for its growing population
According to a 2013 report from IACEW Economic Insight, the population of the Middle East is growing much more rapidly than that of the West. Between 1990 and 2010, the region grew by 52%, and in certain countries, the rate of growth has been even more pronounced.
The UAE’s population, for instance, underwent a threefold increase within this timeframe. By comparison, the average rate of global population growth during the same period was 29%, and Europe’s population grew by just 2.5%.
Such growth represents somewhat of a double-edged sword for the Middle East. On the one hand, an ever-expanding labour force has allowed local nations to grow their economies and push ahead with some of the most ambitious construction projects ever undertaken.
On the other hand, in order to cope with extra inhabitants, the region has been forced to expand its infrastructure at an unprecedented rate. As such, not every sector has had time to evolve as efficiently as it might have done otherwise.
One such sector is that of waste management. Whilst many would point to the GCC’s burgeoning recycling industry, the region is still predominantly reliant on landfill for the disposal of its waste.
Even so, with the pace of population growth in the Middle East expected to remain higher than elsewhere in the world for the foreseeable future, the modernisation of waste management facilities represents both an important and potentially lucrative market for the region.
Potential Energy
Atkins Global’s Paddy Carless explains why he believes that waste-to-energy technologies will play an important role in the region’s future
International design, engineering and project management consultancy Atkins Global offers a range of waste management services to clients across the globe.
Paddy Carless, principal waste consultant at Atkins, is confident that with the right policies, the Middle East is ideally placed to take advantage of the latest waste-to-energy technologies.
“In my opinion, there is immense potential in this region for the improvement of waste management services,” he explained. “However, a number of step changes need to take place if the Middle East is to move away from its reliance on landfill.”
Carless contends that in terms of waste management, the region’s first priority should be to enforce the regulations that are already in place.
“Most states now have some kind of strategic direction,” he said. “It’s now a case of honing these strategies and enforcing the policies that have already been implemented.
It is important to ensure that legislation is applied and followed. For example, Abu Dhabi officials have made excellent progress in this respect. They have introduced numerous policies that are being rigorously enforced. Even so, the situation varies across the Middle East as a whole.”
Another priority, according to Carless, should be the development of pricing tariffs to encourage the implementation of sustainable waste disposal technologies.
“At present, disposal to landfill is pretty cheap,” he explained. “Obviously, the introduction of greener technologies – such as waste-to-energy plants – adds to this cost.
Essentially, authorities are being asked to significantly increase levels of investment within small timeframes, and of course, this is sometimes prohibitive. I think that it would be wise to consider measures whereby these costs are taken on in bite-sized chunks. To do this, the region needs to find ways to involve the private sector so that not all costs are incurred by one party.”
Few would dispute that the demands of the global sustainability movement are legitimate, but this should not detract from the fact that an awful lot is being asked of the Middle East.
Essentially, the region is trying to catch up with North America and Europe, but within a shorter space of time and amidst higher rates of population growth. If GCC countries are to achieve sustainability under these conditions, it is essential that they select the most appropriate fixed plant technologies. An obvious starting point, according to Carless, is to transform waste to energy.
“Waste-to-energy technologies can help to reduce the amount of waste that reaches the region’s landfill sites whilst recovering and generating energy from the back end,” Carless commented. “Some plants have already been built in countries such as the UAE and Qatar, and I think that they will play an important role in helping authorities to reach their diversion targets. What they cannot do, however, is help with recycling.”
Despite the challenges facing the Middle East, Carless is confident is confident that the future remains bright.
“I’d be in the wrong game if I wasn’t optimistic,” he concluded. “I think that waste management in the Middle East has a promising future. The regional population might still be growing, but the infrastructure is well placed to develop the necessary technologies. There is real potential.”
An Organic Process
WSP Middle East’s Hassan Ktaech highlights the importance of getting to grips with organic waste recycling technologies
As principal consultant for waste management at WSP Middle East, Hassan Ktaech helps clients with the planning, implementation and operation of their waste management facilities.
Previously based in North America, Ktaech has come to the region with one overarching goal: to help the Middle East deal more effectively with its organic waste.
“I have recently arrived in the UAE from Canada,” he began.
“My first impressions are that whilst regulations in the Middle East are on a par with those of Europe and North America, enforcement is inconsistent. Numerous examples of appropriate waste management technologies can be seen across the region.
However, the infrastructure that is in place isn’t necessarily equipped to deal with multiple waste streams. When such infrastructures do exist, they are frequently running at full capacity. In many cases, the facilities necessary to handle segregated streams of waste simply aren’t there.”
It is important to remember that environmentally friendly waste disposal is a fledgling industry in the Middle East. Although authorities are consistently employing the right recycling strategies, the mass-scale roll-out of such operations is extremely difficult to achieve, according to Ktaech.
“Dubai, for example, is a relative newcomer to the recycling sector, and it is doing an excellent job,” he explained.
“However, at present, its infrastructure simply cannot handle all of the segregated waste that is being generated. People are segregating at source, but in many instances these distinct streams are being fed back into the same place.
Most of the region’s offices have systems in place whereby waste materials such as plastics, metals and paper are segregated. Even so, whether or not these streams remain distinct depends largely on a building’s service provider.
“The future, however, is looking great,” Ktaech continued. “There are a few obstacles that need to be overcome, but that’s the same as any region trying to incorporate recycling initiatives. This isn’t something that can be done within the space of a month, or even a year.”
Whilst it is clearly important to recycle materials such as plastics and metals, Ktaech contends that the ability to effectively deal with organic wet waste will represent the most significant breakthrough for the Middle East, and indeed, the rest of the world.
“Between 60% and 70% of the general waste that we produce takes the form of organic wet waste,” he explained. “In fact, this has been my main focus since coming to the region.
Facilities capable of handling compost streams aren’t always in place, so at present, I am recommending – and in some cases, implementing – a lot of onsite treatment. There are many technologies available that can handle this form of waste.
It can be used to generate energy on site, or sold on to be used elsewhere. Not only do related technologies reduce the volume of waste going to landfill, but they also offer revenue potential. It really is a no-brainer.”
But if the argument is so one-sided, and if the technologies are available, why haven’t companies and initiatives to handle organic wet waste been introduced across the region?
“That’s a good question,” Ktaech conceded.
“All I can say is that investment hasn’t yet been directed to this side of the industry. To date, most recycling-related funding has been allocated to metals and plastics, and this is not especially surprising.
In North America and Europe, for example, it took a while for governments to deal with organic waste. The relevant authorities in the Middle East appreciate that organic matter accounts for a significant proportion of the waste produced by local populations, and I have no doubt that they will take appropriate action.”
Indeed, Ktaech concluded by pointing out that the large numbers of Western expats living in the Middle East will act as a catalyst for change.
“When it comes to recycling, behavioural change is always hardest to achieve,” he concluded.
“Systematic change tends to be easier. Altering people’s habits is much more difficult than implementing new systems. For this reason, locations such as Dubai have an advantage.
A large part of the local population is already accustomed to recycling. Many of these people will have been recycling for the majority of their lives. It is second nature to them.”