New ‘waste fee’ coming to Dubai building owners

A new ‘waste fee’ could soon be levied on building owners and property management companies, according to reports, after Dubai Municipality announced plans to outsource its waste collection service to the private sector.

The proposed charge was confirmed by a senior municipality officer, who said that, the civic body would stop its waste collection and transportation service to all buildings – commercial or residential – that are considered a business, according to Gulf News.

To arrange for collection, building owners and management firms will have to sign a contract with private companies approved by the municipality to transport waste to landfills, said Abdul Majeed Abdul Aziz Al Saifaie, director of the Waste Management Department.

A circular sent by the municipality to building managers across Dubai said that contracts with private service providers must be in place by December 1, added the news outlet. though Al Saifaie is quoted as saying that the plan has now been deferred.

“We were supposed to announce the tipping fee first, which we are going to do soon,” he said.

“We will give a maximum of six months for the buildings to make the contract after the tipping fee is announced,” he added, without giving a date for the announcement.

The official said that the municipality will implement the waste collection fee by zone, though explained that the body had not finished the zoning as yet.

“We will try to work it out with companies to choose three companies for each zone and offer the best price. We will make sure that [building management companies] won’t be ripped off by any of these companies,” he said.