His Excellency Dr Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, today toured the almost-completed solid waste treatment plant that will produce refuse-derived fuel (RDF), and the Marine Environment Research Center in the emirate of Umm Al Quwain.
The tour is part of a series of visits that His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi is making to learn about the latest developments in the projects carried out by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE).
MOCCAE officials accompanying the Minister included His Excellency Sultan Alwan, Assistant Undersecretary for the Regions Sector and Acting Assistant Undersecretary for the Food Diversity Sector, His Excellency Eng Saif Al Shara, Assistant Undersecretary for the Sustainable Communities Sector, and Eng Yousif Al Rayssi, Director of the Municipal Affairs Department.
With 50 percent of the cost supported by the Follow-up Committee of the Initiatives of the UAE President, the AED132 million plant will process solid municipal waste generated in Ajman and Umm Al Quwain to produce energy to power cement plants that usually rely on charcoal for their operations.
His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi received a briefing on the plant that will start operations in Q4 2020. Spanning 40 hectares, the state-of-the-art facility will have two parallel operation lines – one to receive non-recyclable waste from waste segregation units, turn it into alternative fuel, and transport this fuel to cement factories, while the second receives recyclable waste from segregation units and conveys it to recycling companies. It is expected to process 1,500 tons of municipal solid waste every day to produce 300,000 tons of alternative fuel annually.
After touring the waste-to-energy plant, His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi visited the Marine Environment Research Center in Umm Al Quwain that comprises labs for nutrients, microbes, seawater quality, fisheries research, biological studies, and plastic particles monitoring.
The Minister learned about the Center’s activities, aimed at evaluating the state of the country’s marine environment. These include surveying water quality, tracking the concentrations of marine nutrients and plastic particles in seawater, identifying climate change-resistant coral species, monitoring the stocks of kingfish, cobia, safi, and sheri in UAE waters, and inspecting samples in local fish markets.
He was also updated on the Center’s projects, such as establishing and observing artificial habitats and natural rock barriers in collaboration with the private sector, and setting up and running a fish hatchery. In addition, the Center has planted 3,000 mangrove saplings across the country’s coastal areas and 200 coral colonies along the coastline in Kalba, and continues to monitor them.
While concluding the visit, His Excellency Dr Al Nuaimi praised the exceptional efforts of MOCCAE’s teams and stressed the importance of regularly updating work processes in line with the latest developments in environmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation.