Waste management companies across the world are sharing their sustainable solution stories on Globally Great, an online video sharing platform focused on sustainability and bringing innovations to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Waste Transformers, Sensoneo and Steel Wood Industries were among more than 160 companies from 23 countries that uploaded their innovative solutions. The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) and Globally Connected Companies (GloballyGreat) co-created the platform and the online Global Innovation Award to challenge applicants to present innovative solutions that align with UAE’s Vision 2021.
Netherlands-based The Waste Transformers is a provider of small-scale waste-to-energy installations, which generate energy from organic waste. The installations are placed on site--street corners, hotels, airports and train stations—and transform organic waste into green energy, recover water and filter nutrients from the waste to be used as fertilizer. Their mission is to ensure food waste no longer goes to landfill or is incinerated and to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions caused by food waste.
“If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world,” says Lara Van Druten, founder of The Waste Transformers.
A Waste Transformer handles between 600 to 3,600 kilograms of organic waste per day. Ongoing Waste Transformer projects include installations in Amsterdam, Hong Kong and South Africa, including an installation at N1 City Mall in Cape Town, South Africa, which digests mall food waste into methane.
Waste Transformers won the 2019 online Global Innovation Award. Watch the video here.
“The Waste Transformers presents an out-of-the-box solution to managing the increasing amounts of waste,” says Taif Al Amiri, director of the government communication department. “Its solution is in line with the Ministry’s mandate to implement sustainable waste management systems across the UAE to achieve our target of treating 75 percent of all waste.”
Based in Slovakia, Sensoneo’s smart waste management system was among the top 10 sustainable solutions. Through technology, Sensoneo provides cities with smart waste solutions that enables users to manage waste cost and time efficiency, while improving the environment and well-being of citizens.
“The main benefits of working with this system is gaining the ability to identify the bins which really require collection, thus optimizing the entire waste collection process,” an operations manager says in the video.
“We only go where collection is required,” says a managing director. “We avoid necessary routes and do not needlessly block streets. We also decrease emissions and noise pollution levels in our city.”
Steel Wood Industries, Dubai, also presented its sustainable solution. The company recycles 30,000 tons of wood waste annually to create new products, such as a new type of composite wood panel made from recycling construction and demolition residuals. The company says it can cut 650,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the next 10 years.
Among the other sustainable stories were Dubai's WasteShark, which targets plastic pollution, plastic PET recycling in Japan, UAE's first waste-to-energy plant and a sustainable waste management system in India.
Upload your global innovation story here.
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