Abstract
Maintaining a highly effective waste management system is an important part of being a clean and green city. While this may not be the top priority for some countries, especially the developing ones—because keeping a clean and green city can be costly; there are countries that are making long term investments for a more effective waste management system in the future. This can be evidenced by the fact that even countries like Qatar and the city of Dubai are finding it hard to find the political and economic will to develop and enforce environmental law and regulations. If keeping a clean and green city or country is not costly, then it would be easy to see a lot of countries joining the pro-environment bandwagon. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of investment in infrastructures and regulations. There are two territories reviewed in this paper, focusing on their respective solid and hazardous waste management system. The first one would be the small country of Qatar and the second one would be the big city of Dubai. The focus of the discussion was on the solid and hazardous waste management and regulation system being implemented in the two territories. They will be compared with each other. Based on the review of various literatures and analysis that were conducted, Dubai turned out to be on the upper hand when it comes to having a solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system. This is mainly because of the fact that it is more hands-on when it comes to implementation, and it uses a two-pronged approach characterized by an actual and existing set of technical guidelines for waste management operators to follow and an enforcement system for its existing local orders.
Introduction
The objective of this paper is to understand the different laws and regulations on solid and hazardous waste management in Qatar. One of the logical ways to do so would be to look backward on the history of solid and hazardous waste reduction in particular and on the history of environmental regulations in general. Another way to do so would be to check the history of environmental regulations in Qatar and then have it compared with that of the rest of the world. By doing so, it would be easier for one to determine whether whatever Qatar is doing in light with the solid and hazardous waste management is more or less effective relative to the rest of the world’s countries. One of the leading organizations when it comes to research on environmental rules and regulations is the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is being considered as one of the role models, a dominant force even, when it comes to environmental management through a systematic approach on the responsible and sustainable use of resources, and on the development and implementation of environmental rules and regulations .
For the record, the United States’ EPA’s counterpart in Qatar is the Ministry of Environment. They basically have the same role and mandate, although that of Qatar is wider because it is already a cabinet-level organization, unlike the EPA which is a federal government agency—which means that it handles the entire environmental protection management duties of all the states within the country’s jurisdiction.
History of Environmental Laws
Before the 1960s, environmental law was not in existence as a form of discrete domestic and international legal category. The modern form of environmental protection roots back to the nineteenth century when there were public health and resource conservation laws together with the private legal actions for pollution damage. Before the late stages of the 19th and twentieth century, there was very little appreciation regarding the idea that the ecosystem, water, and air masses were forms of geographical units that need to be the subject of special legal protection. The science-based ideology comes up with the idea that the biosphere was entirely a fragile system that was also vulnerable to many forms of human-induced impairment, which only became widespread at the end of World War II. It is at this time that the idea of worldwide environmental laws started gaining wide acceptance across the world. In the late 1960s, the legal protection of air, water, soil, and ecosystem in the form of wetlands and forests emerged in countries like USA, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Since that time, environmental protection has emerged to become an important element that governs the domestic legal systems of all developed countries and majority of the developing ones. It followed in the 1980s, when the environmental law ended up becoming an important and evolving component of the international law (Tarlock 02).
In the State of Qatar, the principle of the environmental institution is under the jurisdiction of Supreme Council of Environment and Natural Resources (SCENR), with the authority established under Law no.11 (2000). The same authority was previously known as the Environmental Department, serving as part of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture (MMAA). The MMAA was initially established as a result of Law no. 13 (1994), replacing the Environmental Protection Committee that was already established by the Law no. 4 (1981). The SCENR carries with it the responsibility for ensuring maximum environmental protection and the conservation of endangered species and the protection of their habitats. This was subject to achieve partly by the implementation and enforcement of the environmental policies, subject to develop in the constitution by the aid of Administrative Authorities (Qatalum EIA Report 01).
On top of the SCENR, many other individual city authorities have been able to set up in Qatar. The MIC Authority was subject to establish in 1996, by the Qatar Petroleum, to serve as the single point authority for all facilities in the Mesaieed Industrial Area. As part of its role, the MIC Authority was mandated with the responsibility of ensuring allocation of land and provision of the common facilities wherever feasible.
Environmental law, is, in fact, a collective term used to describe the vast network of treaties, laws, statutes, regulations, and customary and common laws that are aimed at protecting, managing, and regulating all human activities that may have something to do with the natural environment . This includes but may not limit to: natural resources and the major locations where such resources can be obtained. Environmental law often addresses a lot of issues related to the environment—which is what makes it hard to determine its true definition.
When the Government Started Using Environmental Laws
It would be hard to pinpoint the exact date when the government of Qatar started using environmental laws. It would be safe to assume, however, that the country started to formally make use of environmental laws, when the Ministry of Environment was first established. The Ministry of Environment, according to Qatar Law (01), is the country’s cabinet-level organization that is given the right and authority “to propose regulations and conditions which should be met for establishing, producing, or making use of any facility or materials, or carrying out any activity which may lead to environmental pollution or endanger natural wildlife”.
Environmental Laws and Regulations for Solid and Hazardous Wastes in Qatar
A perfect example of an environmental law that was passed in Qatar would be Law No. 30 of 2002 (i.e. promulgating the Law of the Environment Protection). This was essentially a law aimed at liberalizing and amending Qatar’s then existing laws on environmental protection, which makes sense because a lot of the country’s environmental protection laws and regulations at that time were already obsolete, especially after the implementation of the Provisional Amended Constitution.
In a study that was published in the Journal of Polymers and the Environment (186-194), the researchers reviewed recently published literatures centering on the solid waste management and plastic recycling in Qatar. The researchers focused on the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in Qatar. The objective was to carry out a primary research on the Solid Waste Management programs in Qatar. In order to accomplish this main research objective, the researchers developed and used several questionnaires. Their samples constituted of solid waste program operators in Qatar.
Some of the key information they obtained from their subjects included (but may not be limited to) locality or municipality type, municipal solid waste quantities collected, collection service availability, collection equipment and vehicles, collection fees, final disposal methods, locations and types of dumping sites, and some of the major and specific problems with the current waste management system . Based on the research methodologies that the author used, it would be safe to suggest that this particular study is one of the most appropriate ones that can be used to answer the research question on what Qatar does to regulate its solid and hazardous waste management. Based on the analysis conducted by the researchers in that study, “Qatar produced around 2,000,000 tons of solid municipal waste annually, corresponding to a daily generation rate per capita of about 2.5 kg; about 60% of municipal solid waste is organic material and about 300 kg is composted daily” .
Is this a good number? If one is going to look at the total volume of municipal solid wastes generated, the numbers do not look good at all. However, what is more substantial here is the composition of those solid wastes. What the environmental protection agencies want is a larger percentage of organic and biodegradable solid wastes because they would be easier and more environment friendly to dispose and regulate. In the case of Qatar, landfill deposition and large scale composting projects were identified as some of the most commonly use techniques by municipal solid waste management operators. Based on the numbers around 1.2 million tons of annual municipal solid wastes are organic—these are the part of the hazardous solid wastes that could be deposited in landfills and composted in composting sites.
The real question, however, is how the government of Qatar, at the municipal level, regulates the management and handling of such wastes. What makes this important is the fact that these are variables that can have a potentially large impact in public health, aesthetics, and the overall efficiency of the system. For example, a well-integrated plan to separate the wastes (e.g. separation based on biodegradability and recyclability) would bring economic benefits because there can be a lot of materials that would turn out to be still usable for other companies operating in certain industries. The recycling centers and solid waste management plants can sell the retrieved by-products of their operations that are still usable for a price to the companies that may still be able to use them.
Now why would other companies buy them? Because of the fact that they were obtained from solid wastes as a result of whatever processes the municipal governments of Qatar used to retrieve them, they would go for a lower price in the market. Economic participants such as for profit companies, based on the rational choice theory of economics, would always be on the lookout for the choices that bring in the highest rewards (e.g. financial rewards) in exchange for the least possible costs and risks. If this model is going to be followed, then there it would be a certainly that whatever still-usable raw material the recycling and solid waste retrieval plants produce would be bought by other companies who have a need for them either as a raw material or whatnot. The revenue generated from such a business model can then be used to offset the operating costs of the plant. This is just one of the many economic benefits of the comprehensive solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system being used in Qatar.
As far as waste handling and separation is concerned, majority of the municipalities in Qatar still rely on the use of plastics to package goods and their garbage. The use of plastics as a form of garbage storage can only be disadvantageous for country’s solid and hazardous waste regulatory and management system because those who use plastics often do not practice waste segregation. Therefore, plastic bags being found in landfills and recycling plants contain a mix of biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage. This can make the otherwise simple and straightforward process of separation faster and more cost effective to the point that the separation process becomes completed right after the landfill disposal phase. Because of the fact that a larger percentage of the solid wastes generated by Qatar are organic and therefore biodegradable, they do not require additional treatment processes anymore because they can then already be directed to the composting sites where they would essentially be left to biodegrade. This is, in fact, what makes the entire process straightforward.
The Qatar municipal government’s support for such a cost effective and highly efficient solid waste management operation is what makes it unique. It is worth noting that at present, there are no landfill regulations or standards that are aimed at providing a basis of monitoring the compliance of municipal solid waste management operators. This is, in any case, not good because this only means that the Qatar national government’s Ministry of Environment is being lax about this issue. The national government, however, is in the process of preparing a set of contemporary landfill standards that will be rolled out to all municipalities through its Domestic Solid Waste Management Center (DSWM) .
Qatar’s government is currently planning to partner with several key private firms in its bid to embrace sustainability in solid and hazardous waste management. For example, it plans to use and partner with the Middle East’s first fully integrated solid and hazardous waste management facility to further its efforts in environmental sustainability. The move was also aimed at helping the municipal governments keep up with the standards that the national government (through the DSWM) will roll out. This sustainability-centered course of action actually started in as early as 2006 when a number of the country’s first fully integrated solid and hazardous waste management facilities were opened.
The Qatari government has a long term perspective when it comes to the implementation of its projects. For example, it basically sees the integration of its own municipal solid and hazardous waste management systems and facilities as a key step for its longer term plan of initiating or if not, participating in a program that aims to collaborate with other environmentally progressive countries in the Middle East’s solid and hazardous waste management efforts.
It is worth adding that despite the fact that Qatar is yet to solidify its implementation on a technical guide or a final set of standards for solid and hazardous wastes, it does have a regulation that imposes a set of standards for pollutants (not necessarily wastes). The author of the said regulation is the Qatar Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural reserves (SCE) and its main goal is to issue, administer, and enforce environmental standards” that “shall serve as the basis for establishing condition in permits (consent to construct or consent to operate) for regulated facilities or activities for mobile sources” .
What this paints is a green picture for the Middle Eastern countries who will participate, especially Qatar, which one may easily perceive as a country that is already on step ahead of the others when it comes to solid and hazardous waste regulation and management. Qatar is a small country with a population of 2,194,814 as of July 2015 and despite the rosy picture being painted as a result of the unveiling of its plans, the fact of the matter remains that those are still plans and that it would take a high level of political will, not to mention a huge working financial capital, to realize them. Qatar is still facing a lot of problems both at the municipal and national level when it comes to solid and hazardous waste regulation and management. For example, in 2009, some 80% of the solid and hazardous wastes that the country generated ended up in the landfills instead of on recycling centers where low price and high quality products could have been created as a result of the process.
This is not, in any way, a good sign of progress. In order for Qatar to really progress in its solid and hazardous waste regulation and management goals, it has to match its plans with actions; else, they would be useless. Additionally, the lack of an existing set of standards and regulations that may serve as a basis for compliance for municipal solid and hazardous waste management operators is not helping the country solve its problem.
Environmental Laws and Regulations for Solid and Hazardous Wastes in Dubai –
Dubai is a city, a large one in fact with a population of 2,487,044 . It is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It would be discriminative to compare the solid and hazardous waste regulation and management systems of an entire country (albeit a small one which is Qatar) to just a city (albeit a large one which is Dubai). However, one reason that can be used to rationalize the step to compare the solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system of an entire country to that of a city is the fact that Dubai is one of the most progressive cities not only in the Middle East but also in the world. According to a report published in the Envirocities e-Magazine featuring the general waste management system being used in Dubai, wastes are classified under five main categories namely General Waste, Green and Horticultural Waste, Construction and Demolition Waste, Liquid Waste, and Hazardous Waste .
In terms of the annual volume of general waste generated by the city, it would be worth mentioning its growth trajectory. In 1997, it was at 550,350 tons; in 2003, it was 1.52 million tons; and in 2011, it was at 2.69 million tons. Comparing it to the total volume of general waste generated by the entire country of Qatar which was at around 2 million tons per year in 2012, it would be evident that the entire city of Dubai is generating a much bigger volume of such waste. It is important to note that under Dubai’s waste management regulations, solid municipal waste falls under the general waste category.
One of the highlights of Dubai’s solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system would be the Local Order 11 of 2003 and all of its subsequent amendments . The focus of this local order is the resolution of all issues that may have an impact on public cleanliness. This only means that the local order encompasses solid and hazardous waste regulation and management. It is prohibited to litter in public areas in Dubai. It is also a requirement (not just an option) to properly dispose waste. Municipal and other government-mandated organizations have the authority to impose fines and penalties on individuals and organizations who fail to abide by the resulting regulations of the said local order.
As a form of regulation, the city government of Dubai has also issued a comprehensive set of technical guidelines on waste collection and transportation services, waste trading activities, and guidelines for shopping center waste recycling to improve the effectiveness of and compliance on the environmentally-related local orders, something that is largely unavailable in Qatar . What this creates is a uniform system of solid and hazardous waste regulation and management in Dubai . With a set of technical guidelines to follow, all city government units that have something to do with the city’s solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system would be able to coordinate with and mirror each other’s efforts. This is further bolstered by the fact that there exists a punishment system giving the authorities the right to impose penalties, fines, and sanctions to non-compliant entities within the city. With an actual set of technical guidelines to follow and a law set in place forcing all the industry participants to partake, there would be no reason for the existing solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system in Dubai to not work.
Another regulation that is relevant here would be Dubai’s Hazardous Waste Management Policy. This is originally under the United Arab Emirates but Dubai is basically under the jurisdiction of the UAE so such a policy directly applies to Dubai. The author of the policy report was Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (12) and in it was said that “hazardous waste management practices dictate that waste is to be process in the most environmentally friendly way”. Another advantage of this regulation is that it is being effectively evaluated by its implementers and amendments are recommended as necessary, depending on its effectiveness. This applies to both solid and liquid hazardous wastes in any particular industry.
Analysis between Qatar and Dubai
Comparing Dubai and Qatar, Dubai would definitely seem to be the more promising choice as far as being an environmentally sustainable utopia is concerned. This is because of the two qualities that have been mentioned about Dubai that unfortunately is not available in Qatar, at least at the moment. To give Qatar credit, however, the solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system in the country is not entirely incompetent. A more appropriate phrase to say would be that it is in the right path towards progress. It is also right to say that it is in a disorganized state at the moment. This is mainly because number one, there is no active technical guidelines in Qatar. If anything, Qatar’s solid and hazardous waste regulation and management technical guidelines are not as detailed and sophisticated as that of Dubai. Secondly, Qatar does seem to have a problem when it comes to the implementation of its regulations. This means that the environmental laws and regulations are not being followed to the dot unlike in Dubai where all entities, individuals and organizations alike, can be slapped with fines and penalties for violating any local order that has something to do with solid and hazardous waste regulation and management; even acts like littering in the streets and evidences of improper waste management can lead to the imposition of fines and penalties—things that are, at the moment, far from happening in Qatar.
Despite the fact that Qatar is a country and Dubai is a city, the latter still appears to be more ahead of the game when it comes to implementing a more effective solid and hazardous waste regulation and management system, thanks to its two-fold system that is backed by a solid implementation and enforcement framework. Dubai is more technologically advanced than Qatar; it has one of the best facilities when it comes to waste management in the Middle East, although this is not to say that it is already in a perfect state because there are still a lot of improvements that can be done . To give credit to Qatar, however, it is a country that appears to be ahead of most countries in the Middle East when it comes to long term plans on solid and hazardous waste management, which is a good thing. However, what matters more at the moment is a plan of action that is actually in place and working—one that produces outcomes, similar to the solid and hazardous waste management system that Dubai has.
Strengths
Dubai’s main strength would be the fact that it has the infrastructure, technology, and the enforcement capabilities needed to implement a highly efficient and effective solid and hazardous waste management. In theory, it uses the same model that Qatar uses to manage its solid and hazardous wastes. However, it all boils down to implementation and in that category; Dubai would defeat Qatar any time of the day. The level of political will in Dubai is high. Some of the highlights in Dubai’s solid and hazardous waste management system would be the Local Order 11 of 2003 and all of its subsequent amendments . The focus of this local order is the resolution of all issues that may have an impact on public cleanliness; additionally, it also has a comprehensive set of technical guidelines on waste collection and transportation services, waste trading activities, and guidelines for shopping center waste recycling to improve the effectiveness of and compliance on the environmentally-related local orders, something that is largely unavailable in Qatar
Qatar’s main strength, on the other hand, would be its concrete and long term plans for its own solid and hazardous waste management system. As long as this country can back its plans up with real actions and efforts in the future (in a timely manner of course), it should be on its way to become Dubai when it comes to effective and efficient solid and hazardous waste management. Qatar also has a long standing plan on solid and hazardous waste management whose goal is to issue, administer, and enforce environmental standards” that “shall serve as the basis for establishing condition in permits (consent to construct or consent to operate) for regulated facilities or activities for mobile sources” .
Weaknesses
The main weakness of Dubai would be the high volume of general wastes that it generates. It is even bigger than what the entire country of Qatar (although small) generates. The continuous economic boom in Dubai is adding to this problem. The greater the economic booms is, the larger the population can be and this would only lead to a higher volume of solid and hazardous waste being generated by the city. This would essentially derail its efforts in long term solid and hazardous waste management.
The main weakness of Qatar would be the fact that it appears to be focusing too much on long term plans without actual results. Sure, there are some real progress when it comes to meeting the milestones it has set for its plans but what it needs right now is a fast solution to its mounting solid and hazardous waste management problems. It also lacks the political will to implement its plans. The quality of policy and political backing of its plans is also not high enough. There is definitely a need for a higher level of devotion for Qatar’s solid and hazardous waste management plans.
Opportunities
Between the two, the party that would benefit more from an opportunities-related discussion would be Qatar. The main opportunity for this country would be for it to copy the system that Dubai is using in its solid and hazardous waste management at the moment. This should be the most viable choice. It can, for example, do it while it is continuing to meet its long term milestones for its own plan. That way, it can already start reaping the results of an effective and efficient solid and hazardous waste management system a few years earlier than when the effects of its long term plan should have already taken place.
The opportunities remain the same for the two. Examples of such would be first, the opportunity to reduce the volume of solid and hazardous waste being created. This would lead to less demand for waste management system. This can be done by proper public education and improving the segregation system for biodegradable and non-biodegradable material. Recycling efforts would also help alleviate the volume-based problem. The second opportunity centers on the modernization of the waste management systems for Dubai and Qatar. A possible modernization plan would be the incorporation of an energy production system into the waste treatment system. This way, the company would be able to generate electricity and address the company’s solid and hazardous waste problems at the same time.
Conclusions
In the entire study, it is apparent that the solid and hazardous waste management system employed in both Dubai and Qatar has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. However, it is clear that employing a more effective and efficient one would always be the best option. Between Dubai and Qatar, the former would be the one that has the upper hand when it comes to the implementation of a more effective and efficient solid and hazardous waste management system. This is mainly because Dubai has been more focused on actions than on long term plans while Qatar is more focused on long term plans. Qatar, however, is on its way to become like Dubai in the near future, as the results of its investments in its own solid and hazardous waste management system begin to materialize.
In terms of comparing their active regulations on solid and hazardous waste management, a more appropriate conclusion is that they are and can be different from each other. When it comes to the question whose regulations are making the bigger difference that would no doubt be Dubai’s because of: firstly, it is more detailed, and secondly, they have an actual enforcement mechanism to make sure everybody complies.
As a recommendation for Qatar and Dubai, they should modernize their solid and hazardous waste management system. This can be done by improving their political will and commitment to make their plans happen (especially for Qatar). Incorporating the use of new technologies to generate electricity as a result of the existing solid and hazardous waste management system would also prove to be helpful as it would enable the two to address two problems at the same time.
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