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New Plant to Treat Tonnes
of Medical Waste

DUBAI — The improved medical waste treatment plant built at a cost of Dh24 million in Jebel Ali will be operational from next week, Dubai Municipality Director-General Hussain Nasser Lootah said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Middle East Waste Summit, Lootah said that the plant would handle all medical wastes generated in the hospitals 
of the emirate.

The amount of medical waste has seen an increase over the years due to the rise in the number of hospitals 
and clinincs.

Medical wastes include a vast range of materials like used syringes, needles, blood, dressings, chemicals, medicines and body parts.

Lootah said the civic body was coming up with solutions in a bid to control and reduce the quantity of wastes generated in the emirate.

Within the framework of the significant efforts made by the Dubai Municipality to develop sustainable solutions to the challenges resulting from growth in the quantities of waste generated in the emirate through a strategic partnership with the private sector, several initiatives and projects are being implemented applying environmentally sustainable practices, such as the projects to recycle construction and household wastes, recycling of tyres and the plan to recycle the oil consumed.

Work on three projects aimed at waste management had been started by the civic body.

They include a general framework for the strategy to reduce waste, the automated system for the collection of compressed waste and waste from the transfer of energy 
in the emirate.

“These ambitious projects will contribute effectively to the implementation of the directives of Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, aiming to maintain the environment of the emirate,” Lootah said.

In 2000, around 3,000 tonnes of waste arrived at the municipal garbage dump everyday for disposal. The rate in 2008 reached 11,000 tonnes per day.

joy@khaleejtimes.com