Qatar Intends to Increase Waste Management Plant Capacity
Among the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Qatar is one of the rapidly growing nations.
The country is generating a total of 1.6 to 1.8 kilogram per day and per person of solid waste; this number is predicted to reach 19,000 tons per day in 2032. With an annual growth rate of roughly 4.2 percent out of which 30 percent is generated by households and the remainder is comprised of construction and demolition materials, only three percent is recycled, four percent is incinerated while the remaining is disposed into landfills. The landfills in Qatar are running out of space and new engineered landfills need to be created.
Therefore, the government aims at raising the recycle share from eight percent to 38 percent of solid waste, reducing landfill to 53 percent and converting waste to energy. “Energy conservation is a must, as the energy resources are finite, and their consumptions are increasing at alarming rates,” reported Nispana, when the company announced the “2nd Annual Waste Management & Recycling Summit Qatar”, scheduled on the 3 to 4 February 2016 in Doha. “The country depends on desalted seawater, which consumes extensive amounts of energy, and is produced by using the least energy efficient desalting system.”
During the event, Safar Mubarak Al Shafi, representative of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment in Qatar, announced plans to expand the capacity of the Domestic Solid Waste Management Center (DSWMC) from 2,300 to 5,300 tons of waste a day, as well as build another center with a capacity of 3,000 tons a day. Like its predecessor, the new waste treatment facility being planned would be designed in keeping with the most advanced technology in the world, the publication “The Peninsula” reported.
The DSWMC on a three square kilometer area in Mesaieed is considered as a pioneering facility. “It is the first and only waste-to-energy plant in the Middle East. It is unique in the world because it is integrated, having all facilities for recycling in one place – incinerator, composting plant, segregation area, landfill and energy recovery,” Safar Mubarak Al Shafi, Director, General Cleanliness Project, Mechanical Equipment Department and Waste Treatment Center, was quoted.
According to the “Gulf Times”, the facility, built in 2011, generates approximately 30 megawatt of power. While 25 megawatt goes to Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), the remaining five megawatt is consumed by the facility itself.
As reported by the media, about 3,000 tons of waste is generated in Qatar per day. Roughly 2,200 tons of waste is collected through the ministry’s General Cleaning Project and about 600 to 800 tons by the private sector from commercial buildings.
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