Dubai Airports implements new waste treatment strategy to celebrate World Environment Day

10x Industry

Mita Srinivasan
10x Industry
Published:

Dubai Airports implements new waste treatment strategy to celebrate World Environment Day

The DXB waste diversion strategy is designed to sustain a resilient waste management system that identifies the least economic, environmental, and social impact methods to capture, treat, reuse, or recycle all forms of waste. New innovative food waste treatment plan is expected to capture and compost more than 2,000 tonnes of food waste annually from food and beverage outlets, lounges and hotels across DXB terminals and concourses.

Dubai Airports marked World Environment Day on 5 June by kicking off a new waste management initiative that will play an integral role delivering on its commitment to keep 60 percent of all waste from Dubai International (DXB) from entering landfills by the middle of 2023.

As part of the new programme, the operator that manages both of Dubai’s airports – Dubai International (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) - has implemented an innovative food waste treatment plan which is expected to capture and compost more than 2,000 tonnes of food waste annually from food and beverage outlets, lounges and hotels across DXB terminals and concourses. Decomposing food waste in landfills results in the emission of methane gas which is 72 times more harmful to the environment than CO2.

The innovative new food waste plan was created in partnership with Dubai Airports’ waste management partner, BEEAH Group, the Sharjah-based sustainability pioneer. It uses a special high-tech biodigester compost system installed in multiple locations across DXB that dramatically increases the speed at which food waste breaks down and becomes reusable compost and clean wastewater.

The DXB waste diversion strategy is designed to sustain a resilient waste management system that identifies the least economic, environmental, and social impact methods to capture, treat, reuse, or recycle all forms of waste. To date, the programme has already achieved greater than 40 percent reduction in waste, including a special initiative that captures 100 percent of all cooking oil used in airport F&B outlets and converts it to biodiesel fuel.

World Environment Day is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is celebrated by millions of people across the world. Held annually since 1974, it has grown into the largest global platform for environmental outreach. The campaign slogan for World Environment Day 2022, hosted by Sweden, is “Only One Earth” and is focused on living sustainably in harmony with nature.