WAM Dubai, 16 Dec., 2012 (WAM) -- Dubai Municipality is seeking new ways to turn garbage that cannot be recycled into a raw material to help provide a complementary source of energy using safe technologies. Energy so produced will be used to cool and light homes across Dubai, English daily Gulf News reported today.

The municipality is studying new ways to convert waste into energy but had chosen to look beyond recyclable materials, saidAbdul Majeed Saifaie, Director of the Waste Management Department at the Municipality.

"We have been taking lots of proposals from across the world because waste energy is very popular in other countries, as we have been looking for some time now into converting alternative energy and protecting the environment," Saifaie said.

The UAE is succeeding with efforts to check waste but the statistics show there's much work still to be done. The daily average for individual waste generation in the UAE was put at 2 kilograms, which is a decline from 2.8 kilograms in 2009, according to the Municipality.

"We are looking into proposals from several countries, including China, Japan, Germany and America, and by 2013 we expect to announce a bidder, and take everything that's not recyclable and convert it into energy waste," Saifaie said.

Once any waste utilisation project comes into effect, it will check the amount of waste ending up in landfills in Al Qusais and Jebel Ali, particularly with the landfill in Al Qusais expected to exceed capacity in seven years.

According to the World Bank, solid waste is generated due to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural and waste water treatment activities. If the waste is not properly handled and treated, it will have a negative impact on urban areas and pollute the air besides surface and ground water, as well as the soil and crops.

"This type of renewable energy is not new and has been present in many countries for a number of years now," Saifaie said.

WAM/Latheef