Municipal Waste Management in United Arab Emirates

 

4.2 Waste Management

Any worthless or faulty material discarded after a primary use is waste. According to a government report, in UAE, per capital 2.1 kg of municipal solid waste is generated every day which was previously 1.8 kg per day.

4.2.1 Type of Municipal Waste

According to Statistic Center – Abu Dhabi, large proportion of the municipal solid waste are bio-degradable as well as recyclable.

Although the waste are classified in the waste management plant, but prior sorting of waste in house is proposed.

·         Bio-Degradable waste – Green Pit.

·         Recyclable waste – Yellow Bag.

·         Reusable waste –     Blue Bag.  

·         Hazardous waste – Red Bag.

 

 

Fig 1: Percentage Distribution of Municipal Solid Waste by Disposal

 

Source: Statistics Center – Abu Dhabi

 

4.2.3 Solution to Minimize

While conducting day to day activities in house, we always left with some by-product or leftover. Skins of vegetable, roots of green leaves, seeds of vegetables and fruits, leftover foods are common wastes generated from kitchen. Papers, used clothes, plastic bottles, shopping bags share maximum percentage of the municipal waste. There is a saying “Garbage in Garbage Out”. The key to minimize waste is minimize the use of those goods that end up as garbage. No-one would end up with leftover food if proper care and estimation is conducted before cooking. Purchasing a plastic shopping bag ends with a plastic trash, instead paper shopping bag shall be used. Everyone should be sure that they are not purchasing waste.                      

According to EPA average water consumption per flushing is 1.6 gallon. Generally a person flushes 5 times a day thus 8 gallons of water is flushed out to drainage. Used water from hand wash basin and washing can be efficiently used for flushing job saving 8 gallons of water per person in a day.

 

A normal tap discharges 10-20 liter of water in a minute. Only 30% of the water dispensed is sufficient for the cleaning purpose, rest 70% of the water is just a waste. The aeration tap consists of small atomizing nozzle that mixes water and air and dispenses at the pressure slightly higher than that of ordinary tap which reduces the cleaning time. According to European University Institute, aerated tap system can save up to 1274 liter of water per month.