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Dubai: Property developers in Dubai should take the lead in promoting waste segregation in commercial and residential areas to help reduce the amount of trash in the city's landfills, a waste management expert said on Saturday.
With Dubai's rapid growth and urbanisation, waste generation will continue to increase dramatically and saturate the city's landfills, according to Jogi Abraham, business development manager of waste management firm Ostermeier.
"Dubai only has six landfills and they are getting crowded. We will run out of landfills in a matter of time if we do not come up with a solution," he told Gulf News during a regional waste and water conference in Dubai.
According to the Dubai Recycling Plant, the city produces more waste per capita than any country in the GCC. Dubai's construction boom ranks it as the fourth highest producer of waste worldwide.
Piling volumes
A Dubai Municipality report noted that the volume of domestic solid waste generated in Dubai increased by 13.7 per cent in 2007, compared with 3.34 million tonnes in 2006.
At the same time, construction waste grew considerably from 10.5 million tonnes in 2006 to 27.7 million tonnes last year.
Agricultural waste also grew 14 per cent to 142,816 tonnes, while the volume of liquid waste, which consisted mainly drainage water carried from areas linked to the sewage network, was 76,456 tonnes.
While there are other solutions to reduce waste generation, Abraham said the easiest and most cost-effective way is to encourage ordinary consumers and companies to separate recyclable items such as plastics and cans from the garbage before throwing them into the bin.
"Waste has to be segregated at source. But unfortunately, not too many people are doing it yet," he said.
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