Dubai Airports is marking the World Environment Day 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 program, the operator 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 (F&B), 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 carbon dioxide.
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 program has already achieved over 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.
“Capturing and diverting all forms of waste from landfills is a strategically important component of our waste management program. While airport operations contribute a very small percentage of the overall waste generated at DXB, we are working in close partnership with airlines, F&B facilities and all other partners across the airport to make a unified commitment to achieving and surpassing our 60 percent waste reduction objective,” said Jamal Zaal, Vice President of Safety and Sustainability at Dubai Airports.
“BEEAH Group is committed to being Dubai Airports’ partner to create a range of innovative new programs to capture and find a useful purpose for all forms of waste in the most practical and impactful ways possible,” said Rafael Sanjurjo Lopez, CEO Bee’ah Tandeef.
“Deploying Power Knot technology across all DXB terminals and concourses is a great example of that innovation and will put us on the path to achieve our goal of eliminating food waste and achieving our waste diversion targets,” he added.
The World Environment Day is held annually since 1974 and it has grown into the largest global platform for outreach on this issue. 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.