Ahmad Saeed Al Kuwari addressing a session at the ‘3rd Recycling Towards Sustainability Conference & Exhibition’ yesterday. PIC: Amr Diab
Prioritising reducing waste at source and contributing to sustainability projects by continuing to create business circularity and a strong ecosystem can transform the way to deal with waste said an official.
The Ministry of Municipality organised the ‘3rd Recycling Towards Sustainability Conference & Exhibition’ yesterday which shed light on waste management, recycling, and sustainability. Ahmad Saeed Al Kuwari, Cluster Transformation Lead, Supply Chain Localization (Tawteen) highlighted the investment opportunities in the field of waste management.
Al Kuwari noted that Tawteen is a supply chain localization initiative for the energy sector led by QatarEnergy, it encompasses the Cluster Development, In-country Value (ICV) and Supplier Development.
“Tawteen is committed to continuously supporting the Qatar National Vision 2030 and energy sector by creating investment opportunities related to waste management. We will be continuously adopting waste to product strategies to enhance circular economy and have an open mind to new technologies that can be adopted in Qatar to enhance the productivity and lower the environmental impact,” he said.
Speaking about the waste management (disposal) and how to transform industrial waste that is generated by the industrial sector, Al Kuwari said, “We look at how to minimise the waste generated by the energy sector and if disposal is needed and how can we offer new technologies that will lower the impact of disposing of these wastes.”
“We see at the waste treatment to create a closed loop ecosystem and minimise the waste by reusing, repairing, recycling and reintroducing as a material that can be utilised.”
He added, “Our optimal way of how we want to look at business is through circularity which means creating a sustainable project that impacts the circular economy. For example, converting the waste to a useful product thus reducing the environmental impact and contributing to circularity and also converting the waste to energy.”
Regarding Tawteen’s active contribution towards waste management, he showcased the strategies that have been implemented and projects related to waste management. “In 2021, we successfully we recycled plastics to produce resins and pellets as raw material and we also recycled steel and aluminum to be reused by the steel and aluminum industries.”
“In 2022 we wanted to broaden our view on the waste that are generated by the energy sector and we found out that there are certain hazardous wastes that are been exported outside of Qatar to be treated. We wanted to bring into localization perspective and have them treated in country. For example, we worked with our partner QChem for the opportunity of treating spent caustic treatment to recover sodium aluminate that will be the first manufacturing facility to have sodium aluminate in Qatar in near future. One of its applications is that it can be used in water treatment.
Another opportunity we are in the process of enrolling is the opportunity with QAPCO to produce industrial salt that is from the rejected brines from the desalinated processes we have in Qatar. This is important to highlight as this opportunity has economical but also environmental impact.
Going into future Tawteen continues the pursuit of opportunities when it comes to the waste products but also introducing the theme of water where we are looking at water treatment, water desalination and water harvesting by using advanced and environmentally friendly technologies.
“When it comes to our cluster development, we aim to create investment opportunities for diverse activities. Our role is to enhance the resiliency of our supply chain by creating investment opportunities to the need of separate activities within the sector which will stimulate the growth of our supply chain continuously.”
Tawteen Cluster Fields are sectioned into six clusters which include - subsurface, digital technology, maintenance repair and overhaul, light manufacturing, engineering services, manufacturing, sustainability and waste management.”
