00:09Muzyka
00:14Every year the world throws away resources it could use again.
00:18And that waste is choking landfills and warming our planet.
00:21But here in the UAE and also in Uzbekistan, that story is starting to change.
00:26Waste jest zmieniło się do poweru, a znowu się do resursze.
00:30To jest to, co to przyszłość w przyszłości może być, jeśli wyjątkamy.
00:36To wszystko zaczyna się z tym, że wyjątkamy.
00:38Zobaczmy, co najpierw, co najpierw, co najpierw, co najpierw.
00:42Wyjątkamy, co najpierw, co najpierw, co najpierw, co najpierw.
00:45Zobaczmy, co najpierw, co najpierw, jak najpierw,
00:47z balistyczą, a łożyski, a łożyski.
00:53DZIĘKI ZA OBSERWACIE
01:21z większości jego wasze od razu.
01:241.5 milion kg do warstwa
01:28w taki maksyłci w miejscu
01:30po od wiosce w jednej dzisiejszej dni.
01:34Nie ma żadnych wyzwanie.
01:36W tym kierunku z tych listów
01:37to ma swoje życie.
01:39Zaleźdźmy do high-demandu
01:40w środowisku.
01:41Plastix, PET, PPE, LDP,
01:45i HDPE
01:46są w把它m i płytek
01:48for new packaging and consumer goods.
01:51Metals, on the other hand,
01:52are melted down into structural steel
01:54and new beverage cans.
01:56Non-recyclable cars are sent to waste-to-energy
01:58where we produce electricity
02:00for up to 28,000 ohms per year.
02:03And whatever cannot be recycled
02:05is not buried.
02:06Some of it is burned to make power.
02:10I'm here in the control room
02:12of the Sharjah Waste-to-Energy plant,
02:14which was the first of its kind in the region.
02:16It turns everyday household items
02:19into electricity,
02:20powering thousands of homes.
02:22The plant's engineers explain
02:24why a modern city can no longer rely on landfill.
02:28Waste-to-Energy converts non-recyclable waste
02:31into valuable energy,
02:33reducing landfill dependency
02:34while recovering value from residual waste.
02:38And it matters, they say,
02:40far beyond this plant.
02:42It matters because sustainable cities
02:45cannot rely on landfill.
02:46Waste-to-Energy transforms
02:48an environmental challenge
02:50into a long-term energy solution.
02:53For those who built it,
02:54there is a real pride in what it represents.
02:58I'm extremely proud.
03:00This is the kind of infrastructure
03:01that delivers lasting environmental,
03:04economical, and societal value
03:07for future generations.
03:09Every circular economy begins with ambition.
03:12In Uzbekistan, that ambition is being put into action.
03:15A nation moving to transform how it matches waste
03:18on a scale few countries would attempt.
03:29Uzbekistan generates roughly 15 million tons
03:32of household waste a year.
03:35Government figures suggest
03:36only around 5-6% is recycled
03:39or processed by specialist companies.
03:41Most waste, therefore,
03:43remains outside the recycling system.
03:45The country's response combines
03:47landfill reform,
03:48recycling, and waste-to-energy.
03:50These approaches address different parts
03:52of the waste stream,
03:53and they do not all play the same role
03:55in a circular economy.
03:58The first challenge is the most basic,
04:00collecting waste safely
04:01and controlling what reaches landfill.
04:0450 years of waste went into the ground
04:07just over there.
04:08This facility replaced it last year.
04:1124 hectares compacted waste
04:13and proper containment.
04:14Up to 2,500 tons of waste
04:17arrive every single day
04:19from across the capital.
04:20But the most interesting part
04:22is what happens next.
04:25Organic material buried without oxygen
04:28produces methane,
04:29a powerful greenhouse gas.
04:32It can escape from landfill
04:33or be captured and used as fuel.
04:37In the building of the old polygons,
04:39there was a huge increase of gas and methane.
04:42And now, on the old polygons,
04:44there is a project
04:45to release of this gas and methane
04:47and the production of electric energy.
04:50Gas capture can reduce emissions
04:52and generate electricity.
04:54But sealing a landfill
04:55does not answer risk.
04:57Massane and polluted liquid,
04:59known as leachate,
05:00can persist for years
05:02and require long-term monitoring.
05:25Alongside efforts to improve
05:27landfill management,
05:28Uzbekistan is expanding
05:29waste to energy incineration.
05:31Government is rolling out
05:33a nationwide network
05:34of waste-to-energy plants
05:36with six currently under construction
05:38and additional projects planned.
05:41The site will be processing
05:431,500 tons of Samarkand's waste
05:46every single day
05:47and sending the electricity
05:48straight to the national grid.
05:50That is the government's case.
06:09In the waste hierarchy, however,
06:12burning waste for energy
06:13is classed as recovery,
06:15not recycling.
06:16It can reduce landfill volumes
06:18and generate power,
06:19but it also produces emissions
06:21and ash,
06:22as environmental performance
06:23will depend on what is burned,
06:25the pollution controls used,
06:26and how the residues are managed.
06:29Beyond the large projects,
06:30private operators
06:31have also entered waste collection.
06:43At household level,
06:45sorting remains a major obstacle.
06:47In 2024,
06:48Zero Waste distributed 10,000 bags
06:51for residents
06:51to separate recyclable waste.
06:54Only around 1% were returned sorted.
06:57It's not a national measure,
06:58but it illustrates the difficulty
07:00of changing household habits.
07:21The projects are moving ahead,
07:23but the circular economy
07:25depends on more than new infrastructure.
07:27Whether household ordering
07:29can keep pay's remains
07:30an open question.
07:33From the UAE to Uzbekistan,
07:35this proves that clothing
07:36the loop on waste
07:37isn't just possible,
07:38it's already happening
07:39whenever people choose to act.
07:42That's all for this episode
07:44of Earth Now.
07:45Join us next time
07:46as we uncover more
07:47about the work underway
07:48across the planet
07:49to safeguard it.
07:58from the UAE.
07:59It's also para-
07:59It's still pre-
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