Sharjah, UAE Leaders Sign Letter of Intent with Tactical Connections For Recycling Initiative
Emirate Chooses Tactical Connections To Help Establish Recycling Facility and Change Waste Collection Models
Toronto, ON, July 21/2006/ -- Tactical Connections, an international business development and consulting firm that specializes in helping companies expand into the Middle East, Western Europe and North Africa, today announced the signing of a letter of intent with the Municipality of Sharjah, UAE to help the Emirate address its municipal waste collection and recycling models, and help the Emirate become a leader in the “Green” environmental movement in the region. The letter of intent calls for Tactical to provide the municipality with strategic, technical and process consulting to address existing waste collections and to establish a sorting and recycling facility.
Tactical Connections hosted a week-long trade visit in Toronto with the leaders from Sharjah Municipality, which included His Excellency Sheikh Khaled bin Sultan Al Qaasimi and Director General Engineer Abdullah Al Amri. The trade visit included extensive discussions on recycling practices, waste collection operations and tours of Canadian recycling facilities.
According to Samer Kamal, Senior Partner at Tactical Connections, “We were honored and very excited to be able to host such a landmark visit by the Sharjah Municipality. Canada is known internationally as a pioneer in recycling programs, household hazardous waste collection and organic waste composting. And with our international business development experience, we were able to discuss many initiatives with the Sharjah Municipality that can fundamentally change their collection and recycling processes, and significantly improve their global reputation as an environmental leader.”
Over the years, recycling programs have enabled Canadians to divert one-fifth of their household waste from landfill sites (through programs such as the Blue Bin and the Green Bin). In comparison, the Sharjah Municipality (with a population of about 800,000) does not currently have a comparable recycling program, yet generates over 4 times the amount of waste per person each year than Torontonians (i.e., an average of 1,250kg per person per year versus 400kg per person per year).
“By implementing a recycling and sorting program for residential, industrial, municipal and commercial waste, Sharjah could divert at least 170,000 tonnes of garbage from landfill sites each year, making a significant difference to the ecosystem,” said Brad Kerr, Senior Partner at Tactical Connections. “The timing is absolutely critical for Sharjah to implement recycling initiatives. Growth in the Emirate is exceeding 13% each year, and this means municipal waste is growing by 13% each year also.”
Tactical Connections proposed a Canadian-inspired model of collection, sorting and recycling for Sharjah’s growing waste problem. This proposal included business development, technical and strategic planning consulting from Tactical, as well as the implementation of a waste audit project to be conducted at the end of the calendar year.
“We were very impressed with the Canadian waste collection and recycling models,” stated Sharjah’s Director General Engineer Abdullah Al Amri. “We selected Tactical Connections to be our partner on this regional initiative because of their reputation and experience with international business development and their past success with infrastructure projects.”
The results of the audit will be used to guide policies and best practices for new waste collection and recycling programs, as well as with the establishment of a major recycling facility to be setup in the Emirate.
Target diversion rates of 55% to 60% of waste going to landfill and the establishment of at-source sorting programs will be early objectives of the initiative. More advanced programs, including citizen education, will be phased in over time.
About Tactical Connections
Tactical Connections is an international business development and consulting firm that specializes in helping companies expand into the Middle East, Western Europe and North Africa. As your regional partner, we use our in-depth industry and business process expertise, a network of international resources and a proven track record to deliver rapid success. When you're ready to grow – we get you there.
For more information: info@tacticalconnections.com
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