00:00Musik
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
00:24that story is starting to change
00:26waste is being turned into power
00:28and rubbish into a resource
00:30this is what the future of consumption can look like
00:33if we choose it
00:36It all begins on the sorting line
00:38We are looking at the primary sorting line
00:40at BIA's waste management complex in charge
00:42High volume commingled and commercial waste
00:45is processed continuously
00:46using automated screens, magnets, eddy currents
00:49ballistic separators
00:50and up to the sorters
00:54Increasingly the sorting is done
00:56not by hand but by machine
00:58AI vision and optical sorters detect material at the polymer level in milliseconds
01:03while robotics pick at speeds human sorting cannot match
01:07this allows us to recover lightweight and complex items
01:10that were previously lost to landfills
01:11pushing bare purity above 95%
01:14This is what the future of the circular economy looks like in practice
01:19Charger now diverts a vast majority of its household waste away from landfill
01:24Over 1.5 million kilograms of waste
01:28moves through this facility
01:29every single day
01:34Almost nothing is wasted
01:36What comes off these lines is given a second life
01:39We recover high demand industrial feedstocks
01:41Plastics, PET, PPE, LDP as well as HDPE
01:46are converted into pallets and flakes for new packaging and consumer goods
01:51Metals on the other hand are melted down into structural steel and new beverage cans
01:55Non-recyclables are sent to waste to energy where we produce electricity for up to 28 000 homes per year
02:03And whatever cannot be recycled is not buried
02:06Some of it is burned to make power
02:10I'm here in the control room of the Charger waste to energy plant
02:14which was the first of its kind in the region
02:16It turns everyday household items into electricity
02:20powering thousands of homes
02:22The plant's engineers explain why a modern city can no longer rely on landfill
02:28Waste to energy converts non-recyclable waste into valuable energy
02:32reducing landfill dependency while recovering value from residual waste
02:38And it matters, they say, far beyond this plant
02:42It matters because sustainable cities cannot rely on landfill
02:46Waste to energy transforms an environmental challenge into a long-term energy solution
02:53For those who built it, there is a real pride in what it represents
02:57I'm extremely proud
02:59This is the kind of infrastructure that delivers lasting environmental, economical and societal value for future generations
03:09Every circular economy begins with ambition
03:11In Uzbekistan, that ambition is being put into action
03:14A nation moving to transform how it matches waste
03:18On a scale few countries would attempt
03:29Uzbekistan generates roughly 15 million tons of household waste a year
03:34Government figures suggest only around 5-6% is recycled or processed by specialist companies
03:41Most waste therefore remains outside the recycling system
03:45The country's response combines landfill reform, recycling and waste to energy
03:50These approaches address different parts of the waste stream
03:53And they do not all play the same role in a circular economy
03:57The first challenge is the most basic
03:59Collecting waste safely and controlling what reaches landfill
04:0450 years of waste went into the ground just over there
04:08This facility replaced it last year
04:1024 hectares compacted waste and proper containment
04:14Up to 2500 tons of waste arrive every single day from across the capital
04:20But the most interesting part is what happens next
04:25Organic material buried without oxygen produces methane
04:29A powerful greenhouse gas
04:32It can escape from landfill or be captured and used as fuel
04:50Gas capture can reduce emissions and generate electricity
04:53But sealing a landfill does not answer risk
04:57Masane and polluted liquid known as leachate can persist for years
05:02And require long-term monitoring
05:25Alongside efforts to improve landfill management
05:28Uzbekistan is expanding waste-to-energy incineration
05:31Government is rolling out a nationwide network of waste-to-energy plants
05:36With six currently under construction and additional projects planned
05:41The site will be processing 1500 tons of Samarkand's waste every single day
05:47And sending the electricity straight to the national grid
05:50These plants are designed for all the region
05:55And will provide the right utilization of the waste-to-energy plants
05:58That is the government's case
06:09In the waste hierarchy, however, burning waste for energy is classed as recovery, not recycling
06:16It can reduce landfill volumes and generate power
06:19But it also produces emissions and ash
06:21As environmental performance will depend on what is burned
06:24The pollution controls used
06:26And how the residues are managed
06:28Beyond the large projects, private operators have also entered waste collection
06:33At household level, sorting remains a major obstacle
06:47In 2024, zero waste distributed 10,000 bags for residents to separate recyclable waste
06:53Only around 1% were returned sorted
06:56It's not a national measure
06:58But it illustrates the difficulty of changing household habits
07:21The projects are moving ahead
07:23But the circular economy depends on more than new infrastructure
07:27Whether household sorting can keep pace remains an open question
07:33From the UAE to Uzbekistan, this proves that closing the loop on waste isn't just possible
07:38It's already happening whenever people choose to act
07:42That's all for this episode of Earth Now
07:45Join us next time as we uncover more about the work underway across the planet to safeguard it
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