We prepare waste management plans for developments, master plans and facilities, measure what you actually throw away, and design the systems that keep waste out of landfill. The work is led by a waste management specialist and built around the rules in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the other emirates.
Waste management consultancy in the UAE and Saudi Arabia with ESGweise: waste management plans for developments, master plans and facilities; waste audits and characterisation studies; construction and demolition waste management plans; hazardous waste management; feasibility for waste-to-energy, materials recovery, transfer stations and automated waste collection; circular economy strategy; digital waste monitoring; and training. A scope and quote follow an initial review.
What we do
Waste work covers the whole life of a site: what it is designed to handle, what it actually produces, and how that changes over time.
- Waste management planning: waste management plans for developments, master plans and facilities, covering generation estimates, storage, segregation, collection and the space and access they need.
- Waste audits and characterisation studies: sampling, sorting and weighing to establish what each stream contains and how much of it there is, with the data analysed into a baseline you can set targets against.
- Waste reduction plans and reports: where waste can be avoided or recovered, what it would take, and progress reporting once the changes are in place.
- Construction and demolition waste management plans: on-site segregation, licensed contractors, diversion targets and the records that green building audits ask for.
- Hazardous waste management: identification and classification, segregated and labelled storage, contractor selection, record keeping and permits.
- Infrastructure feasibility: options and feasibility for waste-to-energy, materials recovery facilities, transfer stations and automated waste collection systems.
- Circular economy and resource recovery strategy: keeping materials in use, closing loops with suppliers and recyclers, and measuring circularity.
- Digital and IoT waste monitoring: sensors, fill-level and weight data and dashboards that replace estimates with measurement.
- Training and capacity building: for site teams, facilities staff and contractors who handle waste every day.
What UAE waste rules ask of you
Waste is regulated federally and run by each emirate. Federal Law No. 12 of 2018 on Integrated Waste Management, with its Executive Regulation in Cabinet Resolution No. 39 of 2021, covers waste from generation to disposal, including construction and demolition, industrial and hazardous waste. Each emirate's local authority manages waste day to day. Our guide to UAE waste law covers the background, and the single-use plastic ban has its own guide.
- Abu Dhabi: Law No. 21 of 2005 and the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi's Executive Regulation for Integrated Waste Management, issued in 2022. Since May 2024 the Environment Agency licenses waste service providers and issues construction and demolition NOCs, while Tadweer Group runs operations, including landfill access. Abu Dhabi's goal is to divert 80% of waste from landfill by 2031.
- Dubai: Law No. 18 of 2024, enforced by Dubai Municipality, applies across the emirate including free zones. Producers whose activities generate large quantities of waste must prepare and implement a waste management plan approved by the Municipality, keep waste records, and hold a permit to store or treat hazardous waste. Fines run up to AED 500,000.
- New buildings in Dubai: Al Sa'fat requires at least 50% of construction and demolition waste to be diverted from landfill outside the CBD area, and construction waste to be segregated on site.
- New buildings in Abu Dhabi: a building permit needs at least a one Pearl Estidama rating for privately funded projects and two Pearls for government-funded ones, and Pearl construction audits check that a construction and demolition waste management plan is in place and being followed.
Assess, design, implement, optimise
Assess
Understand the site, the waste streams and the rules that apply: the emirate's requirements, green building commitments, permit conditions and, where the operation is already running, audit data on what it really produces.
Design
Practical solutions sized to the project: the plan itself, storage and collection, segregation, contractor and reporting arrangements, and infrastructure options with their costs.
Implement
Support through authority submissions, contractor briefings and training, so the plan is followed and the records that prove compliance exist when someone asks for them.
Optimise
Measure diversion and cost against the plan, fix what is not working, and report results you can use in sustainability and carbon reporting.
Who does the work, and how it connects
The work is led by a waste management specialist who is an associate member of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM), with a team experienced in the UAE and Saudi Arabia across municipal, construction and hazardous waste.
Waste rarely sits on its own. Waste sent to landfill belongs in your carbon footprint, hazardous waste handling overlaps with HSE management systems, and a waste programme is easiest to keep running inside an ISO 14001 environmental management system, which we can take through to certification. Circular economy work can draw on the ISO 59000 series.
Every project starts with a short review of what you have and what the authority or rating system asks for. A scope and quote follow that review. Tell us about your project.
Waste Management: questions we hear most
What is a waste management plan?
A waste management plan sets out what waste a development, facility or operation will produce, roughly how much, and how each stream will be stored, segregated, collected, recycled, treated or disposed of, by whom, and how it will be recorded. For a new development it also fixes the physical provision: waste storage rooms, a recyclables area, chutes or collection systems, and access for collection vehicles. A useful plan sets diversion goals and names who is responsible for meeting them.
Is a waste management plan required in the UAE?
It depends on the emirate and the project. In Dubai, Law No. 18 of 2024 requires producers whose activities generate large quantities of waste to prepare and implement a waste management plan approved by Dubai Municipality. For new buildings, Dubai's Al Sa'fat green building system requires at least 50% of construction and demolition waste to be diverted from landfill outside the CBD area, and Abu Dhabi's Estidama Pearl construction audits check that a construction and demolition waste management plan is on site and being followed. Further requirements can come through permit conditions and approvals, so confirm what applies to your project with the authority. Working that out is the first step of our review.
What is a waste audit?
A waste audit measures what an organisation or site actually throws away. Waste is sampled, sorted into categories and weighed, so you know the make-up and quantity of each stream instead of estimating it. A waste characterisation study applies the same method at a larger scale, to a facility, a development or a service area, and is the basis for sizing recycling and treatment infrastructure. The results show what can be avoided, what can be recovered, and the baseline any reduction target is measured against.
How do we reduce the waste we send to landfill?
Start with data: a waste audit shows which streams are largest and which are recoverable. Then work down the waste hierarchy. Avoid waste through purchasing and design, reuse what you can, separate recyclables at source so they stay clean enough to recover, send organic waste for treatment, and keep energy recovery and landfill for what is left. Most of the gains come from segregation, contractor arrangements and measurement rather than equipment alone. The direction in the UAE is clear: Abu Dhabi's stated goal is to divert 80% of waste from landfill by 2031.
What is a construction waste management plan?
A construction and demolition waste management plan sets out the waste a project expects to generate, how it will be segregated and stored on site, which licensed contractors and facilities will take each stream, the diversion target, and how progress is recorded, usually through waste transfer notes. In Dubai, Al Sa'fat requires construction waste to be segregated on site with labelled storage for inert aggregates, metals, timber, dry recyclables and hazardous material, and at least 50% diverted from landfill for new buildings outside the CBD area. In Abu Dhabi, Estidama Pearl construction audits check that the plan is on site, has a named person responsible and is being implemented, and record the recycling rate.
Do you handle hazardous waste?
We advise on it; we do not collect, transport or treat it. That work has to go to service providers licensed by the authority, which is Dubai Municipality in Dubai and the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi. We help you identify and classify hazardous streams, set up segregated and labelled storage, select and check licensed contractors, keep the records the rules require, and train the people who handle it. In Dubai, storing or treating hazardous waste needs a Dubai Municipality permit, and hazardous waste records must be kept for at least five years.
Thirty minutes. We figure out if there's a fit.
We don't pitch on the call. We listen, ask sharp questions, and tell you honestly whether waste management is what you need, or what else might be.
Speak with our team