Sharjah, April 10: The UAE needs an integrated solution to the problem that not only involves modern methods of collection, disposal and recycling but also includes reduction of waste.
Sharjah’s Tandeef seems a right step forward towards achieving the goal.
A sophisticated waste management system, Tandeef is an initiative of the Sharjah government devised to take care of the problem of managing waste in a modern and efficient way.
Launched in January 2010, the eco-friendly system involves collecting garbage, vacuuming, beautification and recycling via its huge fleet of hi-tech mobile machines. The Sharjah Municipality, which was earlier carrying out the waste management operations in the emirate, signed a cooperation agreement with Bee’ah last year — a public-private undertaking — to the effect that the latter will gradually take care all of Sharjah’s beautification, waste-management and recycling works.
Part of Sharjah’s larger vision of environmental care and sustainability, the system initially covered only one sector of Sharjah and gradually moved on to newer areas. The service is currently operational in more than half of the city and will complete its sweep across Sharjah in the next few months.
“We have taken over three sectors within Sharjah, with the fourth and fifth to follow within the next few weeks. In the next five months, we hope to carry our operations all over the city,” said George Yanos, Director – Tandeef Operations at Bee’ah, speaking exclusively to Khaleej Times.
“Tandeef is committed to providing waste management and city beautification services that will help the advancement of Sharjah as well as the well-being and health of its community. Our systems are environmentally sound, technologically advanced and of world class quality and we are helping to deliver Sharjah’s vision to lead the region in environmental care and sustainability,” added Yanos, who joined Bee’ah after taking care of Toronto city’s waste-management for several years.
Employing 1,500 highly trained staff and unique machinery, the service, apart from tackling huge amounts of hazardous industrial waste, has the capacity to collect, dispose of and recycle 600,000 tonnes of non-hazardous municipal waste annually.
In the first three months of its operation, Tandeef collected a total of 26,000 tonnes of waste, gradually increasing from 4,000 tonnes in January to 14,000 tonnes in March. The fleet includes a range of highly sophisticated and purpose-built vehicles such as: refuse collection, line-haul long-range transports, large street sweepers, mini street sweepers and vacuuming machines in addition to two stream collection vehicles for waste and recycling.
With its focus on improving the efficiency and cutting down on cost and emissions, all the vehicles have been fitted with GPS vehicle tracking system and computerised route-optimisation systems. It helps drivers find out the best routes and nearest garbage dumps.
As part of the same strategy, the system sees to it that no cleaning and vacuuming vehicle travels all the way to the landfill from different sectors, but dumps the waste at a transfer centre specifically built for the purpose.
“Initially we were concentrating on a smooth transition of manpower and equipment for each sector. The new transfer station we have built in Industrial area No.12 has been a key factor to our new operations in many ways,” said Yanos.
Elaborating on the operation Yanos added, “We are using a high volume tractor trailer to reduce the amount of trips to the landfill by carrying more weight. This transfer station also allows us to sort recyclable material without shipping it as waste.”
The three-stream pedestrian recycling bins that have recently become a common sight on Sharjah streets are also part of the integrated system. Launched in 2007 by Bee’ah, the number of these pedestrian centres has grown from a humble 52 to an impressive 1,500. Plans are underway to further increase the number and use them for a purpose other than just dumping waste. The waste management company will soon use the space for corporate advertisement with a message of environmental sustainability.
Tandeef will also take over the waste recycling facilities in Sharjah. The emirate’s main dump-yard, Al Saja’a, one of the largest in world, receives 20,000 tonnes of waste daily, with an increase of 14 per cent every month. Al Saja’a, which has a capacity of approximately 25 million cubic metres, is being equipped with modern recycling facilities to step up with the activities of Tandeef.
–Agenices