• Home

Dubai Gets Bigger
Incinerator Plant
for Medical Waste

DUBAI — A new medical incinerator that has a capacity to handle up to 20 tonnes of medical waste per day has become fully operational in Dubai.

It was set up by the Dubai Municipality and Zenath Group, the recycling and waste management arm of ETA Star Group, at a cost of Dh24 million, said municipality Director-General Hussain Nasser Lootah said on Wednesday.

“The total medical waste generated in Dubai is approximately six tonnes per day, but this is expected to double with the upcoming facilities in HealthCare City. The current spare capacity could, therefore, be utilised to treat hazardous, non-hazardous industrial waste and municipality solid waste,” said Jameel Bukhari, Executive Director, Zenath Group.

Before the new one was installed, Dubai had a smaller incinerator.

“The old incinerator was operated manually and disposed of 500kg (of waste) per hour and it couldn’t operate 24 hours a day. The new incinerator is automatic and disposes of 800kg (of waste) per hour operating 24 hours a day,” said Ahmed Al Gassmi, Head of Treatment, Industrial Waste Unit at the municipality.

He also said once the waste is burnt and turned to ash, it is transported to landfills and disposed of safely.

Rashed Karkain, Head of the Technical Support and Study Section at the municipality, said Dubai had a problem disposing of its medical waste. After much study and revision, it was decided to purchase an incinerator.

“We are not only into collecting and clearing activities, our main objective is a sustainable waste (management) system in Dubai. This is the best environmental project carried out successfully in the last decade, at the Waste Management Department at the
Dubai Municipality.”

Essa Al Ghurair, Director of ETA Star Group, said treatment of medical waste necessitates rigorous processes. Given the enormous quantity of waste generated, it is essential to deploy energy-efficient systems.

The new incinerator consumes energy for start-up as compared to the other incinerators which require continuous fuel supply for burning the waste, said Al Ghurair.

ibrahim@khaleejtimes.com