Qatar to expand recycling with new waste management centre

The environment-conscious project aims to take the country closer to accomplishing its strategic goals of building a circular economy and helping protect the environment for future generations to come, according to the Minister of Municipality Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie.

It will be made available to the private sector in the upcoming years.

This comes as authorities increase efforts to encourage the private sector to recycle, implement cleaning programs and enhance waste management across the country.

“Under Integrated National Solid Waste Management Programme, we are involving all stakeholders including private sector in implementing the strategic goals of developing circular economy in Qatar,” said the minister.

The official’s comments came during a panel discussion at the Sheraton Hotel titled the “importance of incorporating the private sector in waste management and recycling projects,” which was held alongside the second Waste Management Conference & Exhibition–Doha 2022.

Panelists included Dr. Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani, Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies at Qatar University, Dr. Mariam Ali Al Maadeed, and Ahmed bin Nawaf bin Mubarak Al Thani, Acting Chairman of Suhail Industrial Holding Group.

During the two-day event, the minister outlined ways in which the private sector is expected to play a bigger role with the provision of more opportunities in the recycling and waste management industries.

The official also disclosed an experiment in which three out of the eight municipalities were given the go ahead to assign cleaning tasks to private sector companies.

If successful, the project will be expanded to all cities, while the cleaning operations will be assigned in a way that would enable private enterprises to invest in providing equipment and labour over a period of 5 to 7 years.

“The operations of the waste transfer stations from transporting and management have also been completely entrusted to the private sector, which will allow us to rely more on this sector,” said the minister, adding that the old dumping grounds will then be rehabilitated in the near future.

In addition, in order to foster the growth of the industry, the minister said land has been set aside for recycling firms to further expand waste management projects.

“There are a number of new proposed projects, the most important of which is the new engineering landfill, which was designed at a high level of safety, in addition to assigning cleaning operations to the private sector, waste-to-energy transformation and waste separation plants,” he added.

Greener World Cup?

Qatar has been heavily engaged in greener projects in recent years, especially ahead of the World Cup later this year.

In a bid to deliver a ‘sustainable’ World Cup, authorities are planning to operate three mobile waste transfer stations by the end of this year.

The stations aim to efficiently collect waste while facilitating the transfer process with the help of greener, cutting-edge technology, said Hassan Nasr al-Nasr, assistant director of the Department of Waste Recycling and Treatment.

In order to relieve pressure on public facilities and highways, large vehicles will be put into action to transport seven times the load of the country’s present trucks, from 3 to 7 tonnes to nearly 22 tonnes.

Qatar’s first community recycling hub

Earlier this year, Qatar Foundation announced plans to build the Gulf nation’s first-ever recycling hub to encourage sustainability within the community.

The project is set to cover more than 8,000sqm in Education City and will feature six recycling streams, including paper, plastic, aluminum cans, e-waste, batteries, and organic waste.

The first of its kind project in Doha is expected to open its doors for the public by October, if not sooner, QF said.