Waste Management

Al Ghurair University Hosts Seminar on “Best Practices on Waste Management”, Organized by Sustainability Network of Dubai Chamber

Al Ghurair University hosted a Seminar on “Best Practices on Waste Management”, organized by the Sustainability Network of Dubai Chamber in pursuance of its commitment to deliver value to all its stakeholders. “The all-round development of the UAE has been throwing up multiple challenges; the Al Ghurair University, which is fully committed to its responsibilities towards the community, has been joining hands with the corporate world in order to address these challenges effectively. The initiative of University-Industry Interface will be further diversified and enriched in future”, said Professor Mohamed Khalifa, Vice President, Academic Affairs, Al Ghurair University, Dubai.

“The UAE’s phenomenal growth has resulted in a huge surge in the volume of waste generation, making it one of the world’s largest per capita producers of garbage; Abu Dhabi’s average annual per capita household waste stands at 730 kgs and Dubai follows closely at 725 kgs, when compared to 450 kgs per capita for the United States and 270 kgs for Japan. The UAE economy is losing AED 1.5 billion every year due to inadequate recycling of waste. While the Governments in the region rose to the occasion and invested aggressively in state-of-the-art waste management technologies, equipments, and professional expertise that aim at reducing, reusing, and recycling the amount of wastes, the corporate sector too contributed its mite by conceptualizing and executing best practices in order to support the Government’s efforts to find a more sustainable solution to waste problem”. This was the unanimous consensus among the industry leaders at the “Seminar on the Best Practices on Waste Management”.

“The UAE’s phenomenal growth has resulted in a huge surge in the volume of waste generation, making it one of the world’s largest per capita producers of garbage; Abu Dhabi’s average annual per capita household waste stands at 730 kgs and Dubai follows closely at 725 kgs, when compared to 450 kgs per capita for the United States and 270 kgs for Japan. The UAE economy is losing AED 1.5 billion every year due to inadequate recycling of waste. While the Governments in the region rose to the occasion and invested aggressively in state-of-the-art waste management technologies, equipments, and professional expertise that aim at reducing, reusing, and recycling the amount of wastes, the corporate sector too contributed its mite by conceptualizing and executing best practices in order to support the Government’s efforts to find a more sustainable solution to waste problem”. This was the unanimous consensus among the industry leaders at the “Seminar on the Best Practices on Waste Management”.

Ulrike Vott (Nokia)
Sameera Fernandes (Al Ghurair Group)

Ms. Sameera Fernandes, Group Communications Manager, Al Ghurair Group informed that their Waste Water Recycling Plant in the mosques resulted not only in a whopping 40% savings in water usage but also in using the recycled water for multiple purposes, including flushing toilets, washing cars, watering gardens, etc. “The Water Recycling Plant involves minimum project cost and working capital requirements, making it an ideal project to be used on a much larger scale”, she added.

Ms. Cindy Black, CSR Coordinator, CHEP Middle East stated that her organization is deeply committed to addressing the issues relating to waste management and towards this it has been using such measures as Recycling at the Office and Warehouse, Using Environmentally Friendly Printer Paper, Beautifying the Office with Natural Plants, Conducting Employee Education and Wellness Programs, etc. “CHEP’s vision is to launch many more carbon reduction programs and continue to be a leading green brand, providing the best environmental supply chain solutions to its customers across the length and breadth of the Middle East”, she added.

Cindy Black (CHEP)
Sara Samy (HSBC)

Ms. Sara Samy, Sustainability & Admin Manager, HSBC stated that the concept of innovative waste management is built into the vision and strategy of the organization which involves setting annual targets for reduction of carbon footprints and sustainability reporting in order to monitor, on a continuous basis, the optimum use of energy, water, and other scarce resources. “Effective waste management is a way of life at the HSBC and there are ambitious plans in place to extend them across the borders to cover other countries in the Middle East region”, she added.  

Mr. Sayed Farhat, , R&D; Head, Henkel Arabia said that his organization eliminates waste, in a proactive fashion, in all its processes by planning and implementing the policy of “Achieving More with Less”. “We are committed to multiplying the value to our customers, consumers, communities, and to our company, by triple fold, by pushing down the carbon footprints to the lowest possible levels”, he added.

In the concluding session of the Seminar, which was earmarked for a live interaction with the participants, the speakers reiterated that the challenges of waste management in the UAE are too gigantic to be addressed singlehandedly by governments and corporate sector alone. They called upon the entire stakeholders, including the general public, to come out of their respective shells, increase their awareness about the importance of waste management, and make the mantra of “reduce, reuse, and recycle” the waste, a way of their life.

Sayed Farahat (Henkel)

The Seminar was attended by a large gathering of University Officials, Faculty Members, Staff, and Students of the Al Ghurair University.

We use cookies to give you the best experience on our website
Show more