Suez Supports The Implementation Of The Region’s Ambitious Waste Management Plans

With a heritage that stretches back more than 150 years, in the water and waste sectors, SUEZ is active on the five continents in the service of an efficient and sustainable management of resources. Now, supporting UAE Government’s ambitious waste management plans, SUEZ aims to reduce waste quantity and increase recycling successfully by adapting new technologies, which have proven to make a difference with its clients. In conversation with FM today, Andre-Louis Brenier, General Manager, SUEZ Middle East Recycling, shares details about the new technologies, the Group’s current positioning in the waste management value chain, and the current activities in the Middle East.

1. In the waste sector, what are your references and capabilities?

From environmental engineering to facility management, SUEZ brings its expertise in waste management, recovery solutions and waste-to-energy processes. Today over 34 million people are benefiting from our waste collection over the world. SUEZ treats over 41 million metric tons of waste, recovers 17 million tons of waste a year and produces 7 TWh of local renewable energy.

We provide support at every step, from the waste management diagnostic, to the design of treatment infrastructures and control of the operations... Our approach reconciles environmental performance (an increase in recovered volumes), economic performance (cost controls, optimisation of resources) and societal initiatives through actions to raise awareness and offer incentives to inhabitants.

2. What are the activities and presence of SUEZ in the Middle East

The historic 60-plus year presence in the Middle East of SUEZ makes it a privileged partner to support authorities and industries in developing innovative solutions to meet the challenge of protecting resources. In the 1950s, SUEZ laid the foundation for the Group in the Middle East through a historic act: it discovered a drinking water source in Riyadh, which enabled the capital of the young Saudi State to be maintained at that location.

In 1975, SUEZ built the first reverse osmosis desalination plant in Saudi Arabia and the largest hybrid desalination plant in the world in the United Arab Emirates in 2003 (Fujairah). SUEZ has also had a presence in waste treatment since 1977 through Trashco LLC, now SUEZ Middle East Recycling LLC, the first private company of the UAE in the waste management sector. The Group now has a presence in most countries in the region, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in both water and waste activities.

3. What is SUEZ current positioning towards waste management value chain?

SUEZ Middle East Recycling is active in the collection of residential, industrial, commercial and medical waste, streets and industrial cleaning. SUEZ provides innovative solutions for the collection, storing, recycling and recovery, treatment and safe disposal of waste generated by its 3000 customers present in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Ajman.

SUEZ Middle East Recycling is a strategic partner to Dubai Municipality in its residential initiative “My City My Environment” where the company provides door-to-door waste collection for about 6,000 villas with 2 separate streams where recyclables are separated from General Waste at the source. SUEZ also maintains a high level of round-the-clock cleanliness in its operational area, through a dedicated skilled team covering all of Umm Suqeim 1-2-3, Umm Al Sheif and Al Manara neighborhoods. Among its current private customers are Emirates Group, Emirates Flight Catering, The Dubai Mall, Australian Defense, UAE Defense, American Hospital, Shangri-La Hotel, to name a few.

4. What are the solutions SUEZ is offering to reduce waste and how SUEZ can contribute to UAE’s ambitions towards waste management

Embracing the UAE vision for a more sustainable environment and the region’s goal to not only reduce overall waste but to score better in the recycling field, SUEZ has innovated and created a digital App.

MAKING THE SHIFT TO DIGITAL

SUEZ is now making a shift towards the digital world by introducing a new Application that can help monitor waste in facilities. The innovative digital application (App) is already live for the Dubai Mall, and it is targeting other large waste producers (malls, hotels, industrial areas, etc.). The revolutionary App helps to reduce waste production and increase the recycling ratio of the customers by analysing the data collected. The App benefits to and allows large waste producers to monitor, track and record the waste production per retail shop lease or tenant, within their facility.

The main benefit of the App is to hold the tenants accountable for their waste production - It is a powerful tool to enact change. By raising individual awareness, people will be driven to find a more efficient way of handling their waste and opt for more efficient recycling solutions. A special focus on organic waste recycling has resulted in effective composting, first-of-its-kind in the UAE, where all waste from the outlets as well as waste from the mall’s food courts is collected for composting. Nearly 26 tonnes of compost is created and then used for landscaping at Emaar’s various integrated lifestyle communities in Dubai. In addition to the compost, the results on the recycling ratio at the Dubai Mall are excellent.

With this partnership, SUEZ is not only contributing to the achievement of 60% of landfill diversion targeted by the Dubai Mall by mid-2018 and enabling them to remain the highest ranked mall for waste sorting, but plays also a significant role in the circular economy for the sustainable management of resources in the region.