DUBAI, 12 September 2007 — The Dubai municipality is planning to build the UAE’s largest and first vertical medical incinerator plant for safe treatment of medical waste.
The incinerator is to be built in Jebel Ali close to the municipality’s existing incinerator. The plant will have a treatment capacity of 20 tons per day and will be fully operational by late 2008.
Dubai municipality and Zenath Group, the recycling and waste management arm of ETA Star Group, yesterday signed an agreement in this regard.
Hussain Nasser Lootah, acting director general of Dubai municipality, said the management of medical wastes is one of various challenging tasks accompanying the growth and development of a progressive metropolis.
“Dubai is no exception as it is experiencing a steady increase in the quantity of medical waste due to population growth and the subsequent increase in the number of medical and health care facilities, not only in the urban areas but in rural areas as well. These wastes require proper treatment, destruction and disposal,” he said.
Lootah noted that the civic body handled 1,188 tons of medical waste in 2006 compared to 579 tons in 2002. By 2017, this quantity is estimated to reach 4,030 tons, especially with the full-scale functioning of facilities like the Dubai Health Care City, which by 2008 will have nine hospitals with about 1,100 beds and some 300 health care operators.
At present, all medical waste generated in Dubai is treated and disposed of at the Jebel Ali Medical Waste Treatment Facility. Since 2001, the facility has been using a medical waste incinerator with a throughput capacity of 500 kg/hr.
The Dubai municipality signed in March this year a similar agreement with the Al-Rostamani Group to set up a 65-million-dirham facility, Emirate Recycling LLC, dedicated to the recycling and recovery of the city’s construction and demolition (C&D) waste.
