Bee’ah means “environment” in Arabic. This award-winning environmental firm is located in Sharjah, north of Dubai in the Middle East. Why should engineers seek career in UAE?
As the name suggests, the establishment strives to keep the entire region free of diverse types of waste with the help of recycling of the produced waste, including industrial waste, paper, plastic, food scraps, etc. Thanks to the sincere efforts of Khaled Al Huraimel, the CEO of Bee’ah, and his team, the company managed to achieve a recycling rate of 70% in the Emirate of Sharjah, in 2016. Bee’ah also boasts of possessing a building entirely powered by green renewable energy. It is the first of its kind in the UAE. Other achievements include ownership of the largest gasification waste-to-energy facility and the third largest material recovery facility across the globe.
Currently, Bee’ah is all set to gain the first rank in the region, with regard to zero waste sent to landfills. This will become possible via the construction, albeit in phases, of a waste energy facility for converting rubbish into electricity. In turn, the Sharjah power grid would make use of this electricity. With the aid of the best international technology, the facility should yield a maximum capacity of 80 MW (megawatts) after completion.
Inspired by Sharjah, Dubai has improved its residential recycling levels from 40% to more than 52% in 2012. Apart from taking charge of the majority of Dubai’s programs, Bee’ah is working on waste management and recycling for the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
The establishment has also poured millions of dollars into its five-year-old Gulf Ecosystem Research Centre. Along with the American University of Sharjah, Bee’ah engages in research of the Gulf ecosystems, focussing on biodiversity, as well as pollution of land, air and water.
There is a solar power project in the offing, for generating over 20 MW for powering facilities at Bee’ah’s Waste Management Centre. It will construct the plant over a landfill site.
With the aim to ‘go international’, Bee’ah is inviting environmental establishments across the globe to initiate independent projects or joint ventures in Sharjah. Foreign investors will gain easy access to healthcare, raw materials, land, facilities, cheap labor and tax-free schemes.
Another initiative is to spread greater awareness. Its School of Environment has taught over 200,000 students across Sharjah the value of recycling, via online programs. Then again, it has dispatched education teams comprising of teachers and students to every home in Sharjah, for teaching families the importance of segregating rubbish in the right way.
Despite everything, there are obstacles to progress, specifically in the form of late establishment (2006) of the UAE Ministry of Environment. A World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Living Planet report stating that UAE had the largest per capita ecological footprint across the globe prompted this initiative. However, Europe was already seven years into the 1999 Landfill Directive by then. Then again, standardizing policies across seven UAE Emirates is not easy! The best investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia.
Regardless, it is heartening to note that in 2014, the Yale University and Columbia University Environmental Performance Index placed the UAE amongst the top 30.
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