BEEAH Group: Building an Integrated Waste Management Model Using Digital Solutions for MENA Region

Shwetha Kumari
Senior Research Associate, IBS Case Research Center, IBS Hyderabad (Under IFHE - A Deemed to be University u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail: shwetha.kumari@ibsindia.org

Jitesh Nair
Senior Faculty Member, IBS Case Research Center, IBS Hyderabad (Under IFHE - A Deemed to be University u/s 3 of the UGC Act, 1956), Hyderabad, Telangana, India. E-mail: jiteshnair@ibsindia.org

The case describes how BEEAH Group, a public-private partnership initiative in the UAE, went on to build an integrated business model that offered end-to-end waste management services using digital technologies. The case touches upon the challenges and situation prevailing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the early 2000s when the company decided to enter the waste management space through an Emiri decree. It also touches upon how BEEAH restructured itself into a holding company to win large projects and expand into other countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the MENA region. BEEAH decided to move beyond waste management into renewable energy, environmental consulting, and radioactive waste management. The company also decided to diversify into the healthcare industry and partnered with two world-renowned medical institutions from Boston, Massachusetts, US, to develop the Jawaher Boston Medical District, a future-ready innovative patient-centric healthcare network ecosystem. Was the timing right for the company to diversify its operations and move into healthcare and radioactive waste management services and become a pioneering force for sustainable solutions across the MENA region? Would BEEAH's partnership-based model become a successful business model for waste management industry in the MENA region?

Sustainability and digitalization are the twin pillars that drive an economy of the future, and at the core of our strategy at Bee'ah.i

- Khaled Al Huraimel, CEO, BEEAH Group, April 28, 2020

By employing future technologies and AI vision to optimize material recovery, we are accelerating towards zero-waste targets and creating positive impact for society, the environment and the circular economy.ii

- Khaled Al Huraimel, CEO, BEEAH Group, October 3, 2022i

Introduction

On April 12, 2023, BEEAH Group (BEEAH), a recycling and waste management company based in Sharjah, became the first business working in the area of sustainability to join the UAE International Investors Council, a coalition of major Emirati1 public-private partnership companies that had successfully established a significant presence in international markets. The inclusion of BEEAH (the Arabic word for environment) in the council was an indication of the increased attention the UAE was paying to sustainable business practices and green projects. As a council member, BEEAH would focus on international business ventures and cooperative alliances that were tackling environmental issues and advancing sustainability.iii

The company was established in 2007 and, in a short span of 15 years, it expanded into the domains of renewable energy management, sustainable transportation, environmental consulting, waste management education, and technology. BEEAH's efforts helped it set industry benchmarks in sustainable, smart solutions and raised the bar for the UAE's standard of living. The company also started operations in Egypt and Saudi Arabia in developing and implementing their road maps for a socially responsible future.iv

BEEAH changed its organizational structure in 2022 and became a holding company with the name BEEAH Group. Each of its services became a different business vertical with the objective of diversifying and entering into new segments. In March 2023, BEEAH partnered with Mass General Brigham and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, world-renowned medical institutions from Boston, Massachusetts, US, to develop a healthcare ecosystem of the future, the Jawaher Boston Medical District in Sharjah. In May 2023, it signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with Atkins, a global design, engineering, and project management consultancy, to collaborate in the delivery of projects related to the off-site treatment of radioactive waste produced by nuclear facilities in the UAE and the wider Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region.

BEEAH won the "Best Solid Waste Management Company of the Year Award" at the Green Middle East Awards for the year 2013. It was a six-time winner of the "Middle Eastern Waste Management Company of the Year" award.v It had over 13,000 employees and 200 clients in 2023 and was estimated to have revenues of over a billion dollarsvi, vii (Refer Exhibit I).

In this scenario, the question was, had BEEAH streamlined its full circle zero waste model operations sufficiently enough to scale up and deliver similar projects in other countries in the MENA region. Was the timing right for the company to diversify its operations and move into healthcare and radioactive waste management services and become a pioneering force for sustainable solutions across the MENA region? Would BEEAH's partnership-based model become a successful business model for the waste management industry in the MENA region?

Waste Management in the Middle East
The Middle East was responsible for generating 150 million tons of gross urban garbage per year.viii With gross domestic production (GDP) and population growth specified as critical factors for managing the waste sector in the Middle East region, the region's ability to effectively manage solid waste (gathering, transporting, disposing, and recycling waste) would not only have an environmental impact but also affect the economy.ix Egypt was the most populous among the Middle East countries, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, the UAE, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain (Refer Exhibit II).

With a growth in population (local and immigrants), the waste management industry in the MENA region faced numerous challenges and persistent issues.x Besides population, increasing consumption rates had led to the generation of a wide range of urban wastes. Not only was waste a severe threat to the environment and public health, but also a significant economic issue because trash management consumed a sizable percentage of any city's municipal budget. The wasteful and careless use of finite natural resources, which was reflected in the materials thrown away as trash, imposed a significant financial and environmental burden on society as a whole. In addition, it had an environmental impact with breeding vermin causing disease, spontaneous fires, contamination of soil and water, and emission of poisonous fumes that lead to serious health issues. Widespread emissions of powerful greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as methane and carbon dioxide from landfills and trash dumps also played a role in climate change. Top Middle Eastern cities including Riyadh, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai produced more than 1.5 kg of municipal waste per person per day, ranking among the highest in the world. At the same time, the recycling industry was weak in the region and only 10 to 15% of the waste was recycled.xi In such a scenario, policymakers and urban planners in the region needed to come up with sustainable waste management alternatives, such as recycling and waste-to-energy. This was necessary since the waste management and trash disposal infrastructure could not match the rapid increase in wastes. Besides, very few cities had put in place source segregation and material recovery facilities (MRFs) in the early 2000s. This meant that the majority of the waste ended up in landfills.xii Other problems included the disparity between costs and profits, poor public awareness, and a nascent institutional framework (Exhibit III).

Even though there were numerous issues and barriers, the majority of governments in the region recognized the issue and expressed a desire to put workable solutions in place.

Early Waste Management Initiatives in the UAE
The emirate of Sharjah was the first to take up waste management at the government level in the UAE. It set up a public-private partnership with BEEAH in 2007. Soon after, the Government of Abu Dhabi also established the Center of Waste Management (Tadweer) in December 2008. Tadweer was the lead agency responsible for controlling and coordinating waste management activities in the emirate and was responsible for the policy, strategy, and contractual systems of waste management across Abu Dhabi. Similarly, Dubai Municipality's Waste Management Department went on to prepare the Dubai Integrated Waste Management Master Plan in 2012 with the objective of ensuring zero waste by 2032. A year prior, in October 2011, Sharjah announced a plan for 100% landfill diversion by 2015.

BEEAH - A Background Note
BEEAH was established in the Emirate of Sharjah in 2007xiii by His Royal Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi (HRH Al Qasimi) Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, as a public-private partnership through an Emiri decree2.xiv BEEAH intended to change the attitudes and behaviors of individuals, communities, and businesses in the UAE by providing the tools, infrastructure, and initiatives to turn waste materials into resources, which would lead to positive sustainable growth.xv It began operations through BEEAH Tandeef (Refer Exhibit IV).

In October 2011, Sharjah set itself a lofty objective-that of diverting all garbage from landfills by the year 2015. To help do this, BEEAH constructed a state-of-the-art waste management facility to sift and recycle trash. The business implemented a two-stream waste collection system and a new tipping pricing scheme3 in 2012 to promote waste reduction and closely regulate landfill contents. The company also installed improved, odor-proof containers in blue and green all around the emirate.xvi

BEEAH Tandeef - Waste Management Services
In order to provide services for street cleaning, waste collection, waste tracking, and waste sorting, BEEAH established BEEAH Tandeef (Tandeef) in 2007. BEEAH Tandeef operated a fleet of intelligent, eco-friendly cars, including automated road sweepers, electric street cleaners, electric desert cleaners, bin washers, beach cleaners, street pressure washers, and other cutting-edge automobiles.xvii Tandeef, employed more than 5,000 people and operated an advanced fleet of over 1,000 vehicles. It provided bin washing services on a regular basis. Mechanized washing was done with rear-loading or side-loading automatic washers, while external cleaning was done with cold water hydro-cleaning trucks. In addition to preventive maintenance being done, defective and broken bins were fixed or replaced during an inspection or within 24 hours of a complaint being received (Refer Exhibit V).

Municipal Collection Contracts: Tandeef initiated contracts with various municipalities across several regions of the UAE and was the exclusive provider of municipal services in Sharjah city. Tandeef also had contracts for the Dibba Al Hisn, Mleiha, Kalba, Al Madam, Hamriya, Khorfakkan, and Al Batayeh districts of the Sharjah emirate. Tandeef partnered with Tadweer, the Center of Waste Management in Abu Dhabi, to offer municipal services in Abu Dhabi Island from 2017.

Commercial Collection Contracts: Tandeef also handled the waste collection needs of a number of public and private organizations across Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. The company has more than 2,000 active contracts in more than 200 locations. In Dubai, Tandeef had commercial contracts for notable establishments like City Walk, Dubai World Trade Center, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Burj Khalifa, TECOM, Damac Properties, Marina Mall, DU Telecom, etc. In addition to managing their waste, BEEAH also offered on-demand training on recycling and reducing their overall carbon footprint.4

BEEAH Recycling announced in September 2022 that it had expanded its integrated waste management complex in Al Sajaa, Sharjah, by adding a new solid recovered fuel (SRF) facility to turn commercial garbage into a high-quality alternative green fuel that would be fed into the kilns in cement factories during production since it was a more environment-friendly and low-emissions substitute for coal. The SRF facility created a high-quality, low-moisture and low-chlorine alternative green fuel. The facility underwent hundreds of tests over a two-year period prior to starting operations. It created hundreds of tons of alternative green fuel for test firing, using waste leftover received from business clients and other BEEAH Recycling plants. To confirm viability and quality standards, tests were also carried out at other international laboratories.xviii

Around 250 tons of alternative green fuel could be produced daily or 85,000 tons annually, at the facility. Sharjah cement had entered into an agreement with BEEAH to receive 73,000 tons of alternative green fuel from the SRF facility every year. According to estimates, Sharjah's landfill waste diversion rate of 76% would increase further with the inclusion of the SRF facility. Daker El-Rabaya, CEO of BEEAH Recycling, stated, "This recycling facility realized the twin benefit of reducing carbon emissions for the cement production industry, while increasing landfill waste rate diversion. It is a huge leap forward for our recycling business, which has been focused on working towards a circular economy and zero-waste to landfill. Now, we are furthering our impact by producing specialized green, alternative fuels."xix

In December 2022, BEEAH Group; Veolia Near & Middle, a leader in optimized resource management; and Masdar, the global leader in renewable energy solutions; formed a joint venture to operate and maintain the Sharjah Waste to Energy Plant at commercial-scale for a 25-year period. The facility was expected to process 300,000 tons of municipal waste annually while generating 30 megawatts (MW) of low carbon energy, enough to power up to 28,000 homes and offset up to 450,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. The plant won the NES Fircroft Power Project of the Year award at the MEED Project Awards 2022.xx, 5

BEEAH Recycling
In order to further its zero waste model of operations, BEEAH built a self-sustaining paradigm for waste management and zero-waste methods through the BEEAH Recycling division that constructed Waste Management Centers. These facilities maximized recovery and waste diversion, while driving the zero-waste agenda set by BEEAH. At these facilities, waste was sorted, processed, treated, and regenerated in forms that further benefitted the economy. Additionally, BEEAH offered landfill management services. One of the biggest landfills in the world, Al Saj'ah, was taken over by BEEAH in 2009 and was run and maintained by the company. With the use of upgraded infrastructure and a carefully controlled procedure, BEEAH was able to quickly turn Al Saj'ah into the only completely engineered landfill6 in the area that satisfied international standards.xxi

BEEAH Recycling partnered with Ambienthesis SpA, part of the Greenthesis Group, a leading Italian firm, to form B&A Waste Management Co. (B&A), an end-to-end, comprehensive industrial waste management company. The memorandum of understanding was signed by the two parties in June 2018. B&A's services included the design, construction, and administration of recycling plants, and environmental management services, hazardous industrial waste treatment, recovery, and disposal, and soil and groundwater remediation. B&A Waste Management administered the operations and maintenance of two industrial wastewater plants in the UAE and two in Italyxxii (Refer Exhibit VI).

BEEAH Recycling had been carrying out multiple initiatives in its quest to achieving 0% waste to landfill and developing a sustainable, circular economy model in the UAE. It always aimed to set a new standard for integrated zero waste solutions, pioneering recovery of valuable material from virtually all types of waste in the region. Introduction of various advanced recycling techniques aided the company in this endeavor. In October 2022, BEEAH introduced a robotic and AI-powered recycling facility, another addition to BEEAH Recycling's commercial and industrial (C&I) waste recycling facility, in Sharjah. Initially, the company had planned to achieve 100% landfill trash avoidance by the year 2022. The C&I recycling facility's robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the first of its kind in the region, automatically detected, identified, and separated different types of waste. At full operational capacity, the C&I recycling facility would process about 156,000 tons of mixed recyclables yearly, or about 500 tons of waste every day. The system recognized, sorted, and produced bales of materials including plastics, paper, aluminum, and light and large leftovers, among other materials.xxiii Once the new system was completely operational, Sharjah was expected to be the first city in the Middle East to have zero rubbish.

Technology and Digitalization Initiatives
Tandeef offered bin care services and all of its containers were RFID-tagged, allowing the company to keep track of its inventory via geo-referencing. The company was the first in the region to create smart bins that used solar energy to condense waste with electricity and act as public Wi-Fi hotspots. The double-streamed bins could collect five times more waste and came equipped with sensors, which communicated with Tandeef's control room, allowing for disposal in an efficient and eco-friendly way. Tandeef also introduced a fleet management system in 2012 that included automated route optimization and a GPS-mapped system to track the fill rate (level of waste) in the RFID-tagged bins. The real-time information helped Tandeef build a heat waste map to dispatch vehicles through the most optimized routes. Other key features of the fleet management system included waste vehicle setup, bin asset management, fleet monitoring and incident management, driver behavior management, performance monitoring, and call & dispatch centersxxiv (Refer Exhibit VII).

The Environmental Consultancy Division of BEEAH offered a range of professional environmental solutions. Its offerings included assessments of the environment and safety including ambient air monitoring services in Sharjah, research into waste management, comprehensive ecological baseline surveys and GIS-based mapping, and safety studies for the industry that included assessments of the quality of the air, soil, and water, and cleanup of polluted areasxxv (Refer Exhibit VIII).

In 2016, BEEAH launched a new mobile app that offered several services such as raising complaints or queries, options for confidential document destruction, and environmental consulting services. The unique "You Call, We Haul Service", helped residents dispose of bulky waste like furniture by booking slots for collection through Tandeef's call center absolutely free of charge. Tandeef used unique reverse vending machines (RVMs) that provided an automated recovery system for used plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Each time a recyclable was deposited, the RVM issued a receipt with a unique barcode, which the user scanned through the mobile application, qualifying them to enter a monthly draw and win exciting prizes. According to Al Hurimel, "As a preferred waste management partner in the UAE, it is important to streamline the operations for maximum efficiency. Technology has played an important role in achieving this objective."xxvi

Evogulf and SmartTrack
In addition to putting in place a sustainable zero waste model, BEEAH also focused on digitalization. It launched a new company, EvoTeq, in 2017 to employ technological solutions to address logistical, educational, healthcare, and other complex issues faced by the MENA region. Two new business initiatives Evogulf and SmartTrack were launched to further diversify its activities through digitalization.xxvii His Excellency Salim Bin Mohamed Al Owais, Chairman of the Board of Directors, BEEAH, said, "The launch of EVOTEQ, is a proud day in the evolution of BEEAH. We have always been believers in Technology and Innovation and pride ourselves on being the most advanced company in our industry".xxviii

Evogulf was the result of a partnership between EOH, a leading consulting, technology, and outsourcing business from South Africa, and EvoTeq. Evogulf was the implementation arm of EvoTeq that ensured the smooth implementation of digital solutions developed by the company. The SmartTrack digital platform was a result of a memorandum of understanding between EvoTeq and SAP, the German software giant. The MoU objective was to bring about a digital transformation of the public and private sectors in the Gulf region and improve people's lives by applying digital technology to everyday situations. The SmartTrack digital platform used the latest computing architecture including mobile, Cloud, Big Data, and analytics, to help tackle the challenges of drug counterfeiting within the pharmaceutical industry. All government-authorized drug manufacturers received an internationally-certified GS1 barcode created by the digital platform. These barcodes provided details of the production date, location, batch number, and manufacturer of the pharmaceutical product and could not be counterfeited. When any product was scanned by the purchaser, SmartTrack inspected it against its secure database to ensure legitimacy.xxix

Evoteq was also responsible for providing the PaaS (Platform as a Service)-based AI platform for the new BEEAH headquarters constructed in Sharjah. The platform managed over 100 applications that included facility management, parking services, lobby and visitor management, and many more. Employees at BEEAH engaged with the AI platform's persona over a variety of channels, including mobile and desktop. The AI platform examined the data generated by employee interactions with the virtual persona and helped improve future interactions between the building and the visitor.xxx

WastePro+
In October 2019, BEEAH introduced WastePro+, a technology solution to improve waste management services in the region. The digital solution offered higher efficiencies and helped optimize BEEAH's whole trash collection, recovery, and recycling processes. WastePro+ was a complete end-to-end waste management solution co-developed with multinational software businesses. Wi-Fi-enabled and RF tagged collection stations would allow waste to be monitored from the time of disposal to when they reached BEEAH's waste processing facilities.

The collected data would be used to optimize collection times, remove vehicles from the road, and reduce vehicle and fuel usage, pollution, and man hours. It would allow BEEAH to fully monitor logistics and control assets throughout the waste management cycle, allowing for increased trash diversion rates that would contribute to the UAE's sustainability goals. Customers of BEEAH would be able to view a variety of real-time data points, including waste diversion rates, via a web interface. Data would eventually be made available to the general public so that they could contribute to a smarter, more efficient, and integrated system. Furthermore, the software assisted BEEAH in better understanding its demographics, lowering response time to requests, and ensuring accountability in driver behavior. It also served as a comprehensive database for learning and improving service delivery, as well as making BEEAH operations more sustainable by reducing the company's carbon footprint and resource consumption.xxxi Khaled Al Huraimel (Huraimel), CEO of BEEAH Group, noted, "BEEAH aims to make a sustainable quality of life a reality in the Middle East and beyond, through a twin-pillared strategy of digitalization and sustainability across our operations."xxxii

Moving Beyond UAE
On January 29, 2020, BEEAH was selected to be the waste management partner for Egypt's new administrative capital, one of the most major urban development projects in the world. This marked the company's international entry.xxxiii

BEEAH then forayed into Saudi Arabia in August 2020 to fulfill the country's Vision 20307 objective. BEEAH was hired by the Madinah municipality to serve 70% of the city, which had a population of 1.2 million people. BEEAH secured three contracts for waste management services in Madinah encompassing the North, West, and East regions. In addition to sanitizing and cleaning trash containers, BEEAH also offered solid waste collection and transportation. The project involved about 3,000 workers and 350 pieces of large machinery, including road sweepers, garbage collection trucks, and disposal trucks. BEEAH would also conduct training, workshops, and awareness-raising campaigns and provide a comprehensive road plan for waste management in order to transform Madinah into a sustainable future metropolis.

Huraimel said, "It is a great honor to be selected as a waste management partner for Madinah, known as the enlightened city and one of the holiest Islamic sites. Together, we will ensure a sustainable standard of living, in line with Madinah's zero-waste goals and the broader goals of the Saudi National Transformation Plan."xxxiv Saudi Arabia was able to advance its Vision 2030 objectives for sustainable development, including raising recycling rates from 10% in 2016 to 85% in 2030, with BEEAH's help. Securing the Madinah contracts was a big achievement for the company because it was anticipated that the North, East, and West districts, where BEEAH would commence operations, would witness an increase in population from the current 1.2 million to 1.46 million by 2024.xxxv

A contract was signed in September 2022 by BEEAH and Egypt's Green Planet to provide cleaning services for the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh. The 10-year agreement covered cleaning and waste management services for the Egyptian resort city prior to, during, and after the COP278 in November 2022. Future-ready waste management approaches that complemented Egypt's sustainability mission were introduced by BEEAH and Green Planet, a business that specialized in environmental solutions. These included recycling services, efficient waste collecting methods, and the use of waste management infrastructure. The businesses intended to set a new benchmark for operational efficiency and meet the demand for garbage management by utilizing a network of RFID-tagged [Radio-frequency identification] bins, a GPS-enabled vehicle, and a competent crew. The contract covered the entire city, including places around the Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Center, where COP27 was held, and tourist hotspots in the desert and beach areas. "Over the next decade, in partnership with Green Planet, our goal is to scale up services, build on zero-waste to landfill strategies, and help shape Sharm El Sheikh into a sustainable, smart city of the future," stated Huraimel. One of the specialty garbage collection services that BEEAH and Green Planet planned to provide was recycling spent cooking oil. According to BEEAH, this would make it possible to produce alternative green fuels while reducing the strain that used cooking oil disposal through pipes and drains had on public plumbing infrastructure. BEEAH intended to place used cooking oil deposit machines all around the city. Numerous unique bottles for collecting leftover cooking oil were supplied to locals and when they deposited a bottle, an empty one was dispensed from the machine.xxxvi, 9

Restructuring and Expansion
In January 2022, BEEAH integrated its Middle East businesses to create a global holding group with numerous business sectors and a new brand identity. The company announced that, under the name BEEAH Group, it would combine its operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt in addition to other international joint ventures to be in a position to win major projects in different industries and countries. "This new structure and identity highlights our journey as an organization over the past decade, while ushering in the next future-ready chapter. We have now evolved from a business with operations across future-critical industries, into a holding group of businesses that are shaping the future of these industries in the Middle East and beyond,"xxxvii said Salim Bin Mohamed Al Owais, Chairman of BEEAH Group's board of directors.

BEEAH Group became the parent company for a number of business verticals such as BEEAH Tandeef, BEEAH Recycling, BEEAH Energy, BEEAH Environment Services, BEEAH Digital, and BEEAH Transport. "By specifying each of our industries of operation, we are giving our businesses the room they need to grow within their industries and areas of operation. At the same time, these verticals and businesses also benefit from the collective experience of BEEAH Group,"xxxviii stated Huraimel. BEEAH Digital, BEEAH Transport, and BEEAH Education would focus on emerging technologies and digital initiatives, green mobility, and autonomous vehicles, as well as environmental education and recognition for both businesses and individuals.

BEEAH Education
In January 2023, BEEAH launched BEEAH Education to consolidate several of its programs that were driven to raise awareness and engage with people and institutions to shape a sustainable future. The Academy of Sustainability-formerly the BEEAH School of Environment, and the Future Pioneers Awards by BEEAH-formerly the Environmental Excellence School Award (EESA), were two renamed and improved programs. Under BEEAH Education's leadership, the Institute of Environmental Management and Sustainability (IEMS) Academy would also provide professional and vocational training and certification for students interested in careers in sustainability. Through the convergence of its many initiatives under one vertical, BEEAH Education aimed to further enable people, businesses, and students at colleges and universities to have a long-lasting impact. Hind Al Huwaidi, Managing Director of BEEAH Education, stated, "By introducing concepts of sustainability, incentivizing sustainable action, training professionals and preparing the next generation of ambassadors for sustainability, BEEAH Education was helping create a better tomorrow for all."xxxix

Diversifying into Healthcare
In March 2023, BEEAH, Mass General Brigham and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, both world-renowned medical institutions from Boston, Massachusetts, in the US, announced that they would develop the Jawaher Boston Medical District in the Emirate, marking the diversification of BEEAH into the healthcare industry. The project was the vision of HRH Al Qasimi. BEEAH was planning to create the Jawaher Boston Medical District in Sharjah as part of its goals to have a future-ready innovative patient-centric healthcare network ecosystem that delivered cutting-edge healthcare in areas including oncology, women's health, pediatrics, cardiology, neurosciences, behavioral health, and rehabilitation medicine. BEEAH also planned to extend healthcare outside the hospital walls by integrating care solutions into homes, schools, businesses, and communities.

Radioactive Waste Management Services
In May 2023, BEEAH signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with Atkins, the leading global design, engineering, and project management consultancy, to work on projects relating to the offsite treatment of radioactive waste produced by nuclear facilities in the UAE and the wider MENA region.xl As part of the JDA, Atkins would work with BEEAH on identifying market opportunities for developing radioactive waste disposal facilities, ranging from thermal treatment, size reduction, decontamination, assessment, and disposal. This marked the entry of BEEAH into hazardous waste management services.

Future Outlook
Despite the various challenges in the solid waste management (SWM) sector in the UAE, such as the poor quality of solid waste produced, poor design that resulted in an excessive amount of solid waste, enormous budgets needed to start SWM projects, and the fact that some solid waste types were not suitable for all SWM processes, BEEAH entered this business in 2007 and made significant progress in a decade and a half from times when full trash cans were left on the streets and not collected due to operational inefficiencies leading to unsanitary conditions. Despite, optimized truck routes there were frequent cases of excessive fuel use. Additionally, when it was time for collection, all trash was intermingled, which made sorting at the recycling site more difficult.xli

In terms of SWM, the Arab nations of the Middle East, the UAE, and Qatar were the most effective examples. However, the success of these initiatives had not yet been established, demonstrating that additional planning and efforts were needed to achieve the SWM targets in the area.xlii Also, there were insufficient public and private collaborations in building a national framework for waste management.

In this scenario, the question was whether BEEAH had streamlined its full circle zero waste model operations sufficiently enough to scale up and deliver similar projects in other countries in the MENA region. Was the timing right for the company to diversify its operations and move into healthcare and radioactive waste management services and become a pioneering force for sustainable solutions across MENA region? Would the partnership-based model of BEEAH become a successful business model for the waste management industry in the MENA region?

End Notes

1. "UAE's Bee'ah Deploys AI, Digital Twin Tech for Sustainable-Energy HQ", https://www.cio.com/, April 28, 2020.
2. Alkesh Sharma, "Beeah Launches AI-Driven Facility to Strengthen Zero Waste to Landfills Goal", https://www.thenationalnews.com/, October 3, 2022.
3. Fahad Shabbir, "BEEAH Group Joins UAE International Investors Council", https://www.urdupoint.com/, April 12, 2023.
4. "Veolia Joins BEEAH Group and Masdar to Operate and Maintain Region's First Waste to Energy Plant", https://www.zawya.com/, December 5, 2022.
5. "Bee'ah Wins Best Waste Management Company at BGreen Awards," https://www.eco-business.com/, December 25, 2013.
6. https://www.beeahgroup.com/about-beeah-group/
7. https://www.appsruntheworld.com/customers-database/customers/view/beeah-united-arab-emirates
8. Yehia Shaheen, "Sustainability in the Middle East: On Managing Waste", https://www.fekrmagazine.com/, August 28, 2020.
9. Qahtan Thabit, Abdallah Nassour and Michael Nelles, "Facts and Figures on Aspects of Waste Management in Middle East and North Africa Region", https://www.mdpi.com/, 2022.
10. "Solid Waste Management in Middle East Arab Countries", https://encyclopedia.pub/, November 17, 2022.
11. Zafar S, "Waste Management Outlook for the Middle East," The Palgrave Handbook of Sustainability, pp. 159-181, 2018.
12. Ibid.
13. "Bee'ah Company", https://www.environmental-expert.com/
14. "Middle East's Sustainability Pioneer, Bee'ah, Selects Johnson Controls and Microsoft for Its Office of the Future", https://www.prnewswire.com/, April, 23, 2019.
15. "Bee'ah company", https://www.environmental-expert.com/
16. "Waste Management", https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/environment-and-energy/waste-management
17. Beeah Tandeef", https://www.beeahgroup.com/
18. "Beeah Recycling Opens Facility to Make Green Fuel from Waste", https://energydigital.com/, September 1, 2022.
19. "Sharjah's Bee'ah Group Opens New Facility to Produce Green Fuel from Waste", https://gulfnews.com/, August 31, 2022.
20. Babu Das Augustine, "Sharjah's Beeah and Egypt's Green Planet Enter Sharm El Sheikh Waste Management Pact", https://www.thenationalnews.com/, September 27, 2022.
21. "Bee'ah Residuals Management Services", https://www.environmental-expert.com/
22. "BEEAH Recycling", https://www.beeahgroup.com/
23. "BEEAH Launches Recycling Facility with Robotics & AI", https://www.sus tainabilitymenews.com/, October 2022.
24. "A Distinctive Approach to Sustainable Waste Management," https://www.cm-today.com/, July 5, 2017.
25. "Bee'ah Environmental Consultancy Services", https://www.environmental-expert.com/
26. Ibid.
27. Alkesh Sharma, "Sharjah's Bee'ah is Targeting Zero Waste to Landfills in the Emirate by 2021", https://www.thenationalnews.com/, May 28, 2019.
28. Beeah Launches New Tech Company Evoteq At SAP Innovation Day, Beeah Reveals New Ventures and Partners at SAP Event," https://evoteq.com/, May 29, 2017.
29. Beeah Launches New Tech Company Evoteq at SAP Innovation Day, Beeah Reveals New Ventures and Partners at SAP Event," https://evoteq.com/, May 29, 2017.
30. "UAE's Bee'ah Deploys AI, Digital Twin Tech for Sustainable-Energy HQ", https://www.cio.com/, April 28, 2020.
31. "Bee'ah Launches WastePro+, Region's First Fully Integrated Waste Management Digital Solution", https://www.beeahgroup.com/, October 10, 2019.
32. "Bee'ah Wins Largest Waste Management Contract in Middle East for Egypt's Administrative Capital", https://www.egypttoday.com/, January 29, 2020.
33. Ibid.
34. "Bee'ah Expands into Saudi Arabia Winning 3 New Contracts in Madinah", https://www.zawya.com/, August 9, 2020.
35. "Bee'ah Expands into Saudi Arabia Winning 3 New Contracts in Madinah", https://www.zawya.com/, August 9, 2020.
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