New federal law stipulates recycling 75% of solid waste
DRAFT LEGISLATION PASSED BY FNC PROVIDES FOR TRANSPORTING WASTE ACROSS COUNTRY
Members of the Federal National Council (FNC) yesterday passed a federal draft law on integrated waste management that regulates its management and disposal, cutting the amount of waste produced and using waste for alternative purposes.
“The new law, the first in the region, is crucial given the fact that the UAE generates more than 6.5 million tonnes of waste per annum,” Dr Thani Bin Ahmad Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment told the House.
The UAE’s per capita waste generation is around 1.2-1.3kg per day — among the world’s highest, the majority of which or 77 per cent ends up in landfills, the minister told Gulf News on the sidelines of the FNC session. About nine million people live in the UAE.
Dr Al Zeyoudi told the House that the UAE’s integrated waste management, which combines a variety of strategies for both waste management and waste reduction, aims at recycling 75 per cent of solid waste rather than dumping it in landfills.
This involves burying waste in sanitary landfills and burning it in massive incinerators. Waste reduction methods include
reusing, recycling and composting. The minister said the law provides for transporting waste across the country for
the first time, which encourages investment in reusing and recycling of waste. The draft law, which requires the final approval of the President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, authorises the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to ban using or importing single use items or products and packaging that are disposed of after one use if they cause harm to the environment.
It also authorises the ministry to ban using or importing materials which are too difficult to dispose of, or its disposal may harm the environment.
The ministry can also oblige factories to reuse waste generated by them if this is less harmful to the environment than disposing of it.
The draft law obliges factories to reuse, recycle or dispose of their industrial wastes in keeping with standards set by the authorities. However, authorities will manage hazardous and construction and demolition wastes as well as sewage sludge. The law sets up a national database for waste.
Offenders face up to Dh1 million fine under the new bill, which will take effect three months after publishing in the official gazette.
FNC members wanted the ministry to focus on getting industries to eliminate or reduce harmful chemicals used in production, reduce packing materials and make products that last longer and are easier to recycle, reuse and repair.