During a media forum organised by Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer) at EcoWASTE
 

18, January 2022, Abu Dhabi, UAE: His Excellency Dr. Salem Al Kaabi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer), said that the Center has succeeded in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills by 40% in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Center continues working to achieve its strategic goal of reducing the total of waste sent to landfills by 80% by 2030.

His Excellency made the announcement during a media forum organised by Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer) on the second day of the eighth edition of EcoWASTE 2022 Exhibition and Forum, held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) as part of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW). His Excellency Dr. Al Kaabi discussed the latest developments of the Center’s projects and strategic initiatives, in addition to the Center’s plans and expected achievements in 2022.

His Excellency Al Kaabi said: “The Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer) aims to release tenders for two projects: converting waste to energy project, and MRF-RDF (Material Recovery Facilities- Refuse Derived Fuel) project during the first quarter of 2022. The Center will complete a series of strategic projects and initiatives during the year. These projects include converting waste into aviation fuel, extracting gas from landfills, establishing engineering cells, issuing ID cards for workers in the pest control and waste management sectors, providing the e-manifest platform to other state establishments, and importing waste from outside the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

His Excellency Al Kaabi said that in early 2022, the Center closed all of its customer service centres and started providing all its services through the TAMM government communication center’s call center. The Center continued to work on the full integration with the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) during this year.

Interactive sessions
The activities of EcoWASTE Exhibition and Forum continued for the second day, with wide-scale local, regional, and international participation, including more than 35 local, regional, and international companies, 12 of them participating for the first time.
The Forum started with a presentation by His Excellency Dr. Al Kaabi on the Center’s efforts for safely managing and disposing medical waste contaminated with COVID-19, including bandages, toothbrushes, syringes, needles, surgical equipment, blood and tissue testing waste, pharmacies waste, radiation therapy waste, and so on, with an overall capacity of 16 tonnes per day. These efforts have been supported by launching the project for medical waste treatment in Abu Dhabi and the project for collecting, transporting, and treating medical waste in Al Ain.

His Excellency Al Kaabi discussed the challenges that the Center faced while dealing with waste contaminated with COVID-19 and the mechanisms for overcoming these challenges. The Center succeeded in operating the backup processing unit in Abu Dhabi, supplying three mobile incinerators, providing additional vehicles from environmental services providers in the private sector, and other solutions that contributed to the Center’s strategic role in the government’s efforts for confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.

On another panel, His Excellency Al Kaabi highlighted the importance of managing food waste using advanced technology, in order to reduce carbon emissions, use less energy, reduce costs, and other such benefits.

During the second day of the Exhibition and Forum, a number of VIPs and official delegations visited the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer) pavilion. Major visitors included Grace Fu, Indonesian Minister of Sustainability and the Environment, and His Excellency Kamal Vaswani, Singapore’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, as well as His Excellency Engineer Ali Khalifa Qamzi, Director General of Al Ain City Municipality, and an official delegation from Al Dhafra Municipality.  

In addition, His Excellency Dr. Salem Al Kaabi visited the exhibiting companies' pavilions and was briefed on the best practices and the latest technologies and systems in the field of waste management.