Environment & Energy | Monday 21 November, 2016 3:32 pm |

Anticipating the Middle East’s growth in waste management opportunities, and supporting take-up of innovative waste solutions, is the return of EcoWASTE, hosted by Masdar in strategic partnership with Tadweer (the Center for Waste Management - Abu Dhabi).

EcoWASTE aims to highlight the business opportunities available to the waste management sector in the Middle East region by adopting the latest solutions and technologies.

 

The GCC is emerging as a global leader in using innovative technologies to turn solid waste into an economic resource, according to organisers kicking off the fourth EcoWASTE Exhibition, to be held as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2017.

 

Worldwide, municipal solid waste collection and costs are nearly doubling from 2010 to 2025, when they will reach 2.2 billion tons costing USD 375 billion, according to the World Bank.

 

With the GCC’s rapid population and construction growth, waste volume is growing at a CAGR of 11 percent, according to Frost & Sullivan. Governments are now increasingly seeing “waste” as “wealth” for a sustainable future, public health benefits, and economic competitiveness.

 

“EcoWASTE will be an ideal platform to exchange best practices and explore the latest technologies, and for networking with the global leaders of the waste management sector,” said H.E. Eisa Saif Al Qubaisi, General Manager of Tadweer. “Our continued sponsorship of the event reflects our belief in the importance of unifying our efforts with all local and regional stakeholders, to highlight the challenges and explore the opportunities, and find the most efficient approach to turn waste into valuable business opportunities.”

 

Key EcoWASTE features include the EcoWASTE Workshops and Seminars, as a platform for sharing solutions and building partnerships, and the Waste Management Solutions Forum for enhancing cross-border collaboration to tackle the challenges of municipal solid waste.

 

Supporting the waste sustainability market, the Business Connect program will return to pre-arrange meetings between buyers and sellers across the public and private sectors. In 2016, EcoWASTE’s Business Connect program hosted 966 meetings with 345 executive buyers from 227 companies and 25 countries.

 

Planners in the region recognise that recycling alone will not achieve such ambitious targets, and are moving forward with using waste-to-energy (WTE) plants as a landfill alternative. Analysis by consultancy Global Market Insights predict the world WTE market is growing at more than six percent annually, and will be worth more than USD 33 billion by 2023, with emerging markets seeing the fastest growth.

 

In 2016, EcoWASTE attracted more than 5,600 attendees, with trade visitors from more than 91 countries and over 47 exhibiting companies. Attendees cover construction, electronic, hazardous, and organic waste management companies, government agencies, consultancies, and technology and equipment providers.

 

EcoWASTE 2017 will be co-located with the World Future Energy Summit and International Water Summit, held from 16-19 January 2017 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.