UAE: Council adopts 22 new policies to speed up transition to circular economy

UAE: Council adopts 22 new policies to speed up transition to circular economy

The UAE Circular Economy Council convened its second meeting of 2022, presided over by Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, Minister of Climate Change and the Environment.

The Council approved 22 policies proposed by its subsidiary, the Circular Economy Policies Committee, that focus on accelerating the implementation of the circular economy model in the UAE in four main sectors – manufacturing, food, infrastructure, and transport.

The Council also identified at least 16 circular economy activities that open a wealth of opportunities for businesses, such as upcycling textile waste into new products, developing automated AI-enabled waste management solutions, and remanufacturing electronic waste.

"With the cabinet's approval of the UAE Circular Economy Policy in January 2021, we have embarked on an ambitious and important mission to transition from a linear model to a circular economy approach. Our current linear economy consumes valuable materials and resources without being able to benefit from them after use, which represents waste in the modern concept of sustainability. Our approach seeks to protect our environment and to ensure the long-term economic and social prosperity of our country," Almheiri said.

"Many key stakeholders in the UAE have already started to embrace circular economy principles. We at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment and