NO TIME TO WASTE

Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of the BEEAH Group, has overseen the holding company's growth from a small waste management facility to a regional renewable power player. As MENA drives forward its green agenda, his job has only just gotten started.

-  LAYAN ABO SHKIER

While the oil and gas-rich Middle East is very much still synonymous with the supply of fossil fuels, today some of its biggest markets are also witnessing a green revolution within their sandy terrains. And while the U.A.E. gears up to host the international climate change summit COP28, it is already home to a host of sustainability-focused companies making it their business to lead the change.

Leading this transformation is Khaled Al Huraimel, the Group CEO of U.A.E.-based BEEAH Group, the largest waste management company in the Middle East. Under Al Huraimel’s leadership, BEEAH has just marked a major milestone. In May 2023, the group announced that it had achieved over 90% landfill waste diversion in the emirate of Sharjah—the highest percentage to be achieved in MENA so far. However, this has not been a quick or simple journey. “Nothing happens overnight. It took us 14 years to get here,” says Al Huraimel.

The last year has proven to be particularly gamechanging for the pioneering company. In May 2022, BEEAH inaugurated the region’s first commercial-scale waste-to-energy plant in Sharjah through the Emirates Waste to Energy Company, a joint venture between BEEAH and Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy firm Masdar. “Whatever we are not able to treat or recycle goes to our waste-to-energy plant, which will help us achieve our target towards zero waste,” says the Group CEO. The plant processed over 100,000 tonnes of waste—equivalent to the annual waste produced by 180,000 people—in its first operational year. It also offset over 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and is currently supplying enough energy to power over 2,000 homes per year.