UAE: Tadweer processes over 1.8 million tons of waste, diverts 34% away from landfills in first half of 2022

Abu Dhabi Waste Management Centre (Tadweer) announced that it has processed more than 1,860,000 tons of waste, including 88,382 tons of medical and hazardous waste, and handled 50,000 pest control requests during the first half of 2022. This comes as part of the Centre’s continuous efforts to build an efficient integrated waste management and pest control system in Abu Dhabi.

During the first half of 2022, Tadweer successfully diverted 34% of all waste in Abu Dhabi away from landfills, and diverted 50% of waste resulting from demolition and construction operations, 93% of hazardous waste, 3% of green waste, and 6% of animal waste away from landfills. This comes in line with Tadweer’s efforts to support the UAE’s vision for 2030.

The Centre’s achievements during the first half of 2022 included signing operational contracts for pest control services and reducing disease vector pests. In addition to adopting the electronic approvals system for No Objection Certificates (NOC) in Abu Dhabi, as well as organizing awareness campaigns across the Emirate.

Dr Salem Al Kaabi, Acting Director-General of Tadweer, said: "The achievements realized during the first half of 2022 are a testament to the Centre’s efficacy and its pivotal position in building a sustainable system for waste management and pest control in Abu Dhabi, in order to maintain Abu Dhabi’s cleanliness and aesthetics. This is in line with the strategic objectives of the Centre to ensure value-added services are provided to the community." "The Centre’s highly skilled teams will continue their efforts to finding more solutions that realize sustainability by preserving natural resources, creating an aware society that contributes to reducing waste, and converting waste into an economic resource for the Emirate, all in order to create a safe, healthy, and sustainable environment," he added.

Waste treatment Tadweer is committed to treating and recycling all kinds of waste, with medical and hazardous waste being among the most crucial types of waste that the Centre treats using the best standards and practices available in the field. This is carried out via its three centres in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which collect, transport, and treat all medical waste produced by hospitals, clinics, healthcare centres, pharmacies, educational establishments, and more. This waste is incinerated at high temperatures that reach up to 1,200 Celsius, all while adhering to the best environmental and health practices of the UAE.

In line with the Emirate’s vision to achieve the environmental objectives related to proper waste management, recycling and diverting waste from landfills, Tadweer has recycled around 29,000 tons of agricultural and animal waste during the first half of 2022. This helped to produce around 13,000 tons of organic fertilizer, in addition to producing around 1,200,000 tons of recycled gravel from demolition and construction waste in Abu Dhabi during the same time period.

The overall amount of recyclable waste collected from recyclable collection centres during the first half of this year amounted to 39 tons of waste. 67% of which was made up of paper and cardboard materials, in addition to plastics, wood, clothing, expired medication, used batteries, metals, aluminium cans, glassware, and more.

Pest control Regarding pest control, the rate of infestations by disease vector pests dropped to 1.9%, which is much lower than the minimum accepted rate of 5%. Mosquito infestations dropped to 1.4%, as smart mosquito traps were increased to 640 traps across the Emirate. The Centre also received 50,000 requests for combating disease vector pests, nuisance pests, and stray animals, all of which were handled in accordance with the highest international standards and global practices.

Monitoring the waste sector The Centre has detected around 1095 cases of arbitrary dumping of solid waste, and 5248 cases of dumping sewage Abu Dhabi.

Public awareness Tadweer organized around 21 awareness campaigns in Abu Dhabi, including field visits to various educational establishments and government agencies, benefitting more than 14,000 people in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Al Dhafra. This directly aligns with Tadweer’s commitment to raising environmental awareness about the importance of proper treatment and disposal of waste and protecting the environment.

The contracts were signed for managing, operating, maintaining, monitoring, and controlling supervised landfills in Al Ain city and Al Dhafra region, and managing, operating, maintaining, monitoring, and controlling the Hamim supervised landfill and the solid municipal waste and commercial and industrial waste transport station. In addition, Tadweer signed new operational contracts for pest control services in Al Ain city.