The State of the United Arab Emirates, among the top ten oil exporters in the world, is the first in the Gulf to embark on "waste-to-energy", to find a solution to the chronic problem of waste. garbage but also to its dependence on gas for the operation of its power stations.

Four incinerators, including one that will cost more than 1 billion euros, must be built, in a country where the production of household waste and the consumption of electricity per capita are among the highest in the world.

“Not everyone knows that waste has value. At Beeah, it's our leitmotif,” explains Ms. Al-Wazir.

Behind her, workers are busy closing the Sharjah plant on time, which should be operational by the end of the year.

Capable of absorbing 300,000 tonnes of waste per year, it will supply around 28,000 homes with electricity.

In the neighboring emirate of Dubai, with its energy-hungry skyscrapers and shopping malls, a much larger factory is planned for 2024, at a total cost of more than a billion euros, according to partner Hitachi Zosen Inova.

The site under construction of the waste management company Beeah in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, September 2, 2021 GIUSEPPE CACACE AFP

Among the largest in the world, it is expected to absorb 1.9 million tonnes per year, or 45% of household waste currently produced in the emirate.

Overconsumption

In the Emirates, "we consume a lot and throw away a lot," explains Riad Bestani, founder of the company ECOsquare in Dubai, which offers waste management solutions.

Dubai alone has six huge landfills.

They currently cover 1.6 million square meters, an area that could reach 5.8 million m2 in 2041 if other solutions are not found, according to the municipality.

Landfill costs "are almost non-existent, so it's very cheap and easy to get rid of all types of materials in the desert," Emma Barber, director of Dgrade, a company that creates clothes and clothing, told AFP. accessories from recycled plastic bottles.

The site under construction of the waste management company Beeah in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, September 2, 2021 GIUSEPPE CACACE AFP

The transformation of waste is also part of the campaign to diversify the economy and energy sources launched by the Emirates, with in particular the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world.

The country is 90% dependent on natural gas for power generation, according to a 2019 government report.

According to the International Energy Agency, its electricity consumption has increased by around 750% in 30 years while the population has quintupled since the country transformed from 1990 into a real regional hub for business.

The country now produces around 1.8 kg of waste per person per day.

"Easier"

Incineration is "easier" than other solutions, explains Janek Vähk, from the NGO Zero Waste Europe, which called in particular for a moratorium on incinerators and their gradual closure from 2040.

But according to him, "the best thing for the climate and the environment would be the recovery" and the composting, even if "it is not really topical because (...) it is easier to simply burn rather than to separate, sort and recycle ".

The activist warns against a "lock-in effect", in reference to the need to supply incinerators permanently to make the investments in these very expensive installations profitable.

Trucks enter and exit the Beeah waste management company in Sharjah, UAE September 2, 2021 GIUSEPPE CACACE AFP

Incineration is "more efficient" when it is used at the same time to produce heat, as in the Nordic countries where the combustion of waste is also used for district heating, he explains.

But if the objective is only to produce electricity, incineration has an unfavorable carbon footprint, even compared to fossil fuels, underlines Janek Vähk.

At the beginning of October, the Emirates announced that they wanted to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The electricity produced by incineration "is not necessarily green energy," said Rami Shaar, co-founder of Washmen, a home laundry service in Dubai which offers its customers to collect their recyclable waste with their clothes.

It is "a solution which makes it possible not to extract more oil, but it does not solve the problem as a whole".

© 2021 AFP