Tadweer, the waste management authority in Abu Dhabi, has announced an ambitious 25-year recycling plan that it hopes will be picked up by the rest of the region breaking the emirate into different zones with specific types of recycling centres introduced to match the kinds of waste generated there.

"It will be the first time in the GCC that a plan in this nature and size is undertaken," Fehily Timoney, managing director of Irish environmental consultancy FT Arabia, which is working with Tadweer on the plan, told The National daily.

Tadweer says its master plan will introduce a "sustainable circular economy" for production, with greater emphasis on recycling and re-use to lower the amount of waste dumped.

The plan aims to integrate new facilities with existing ones. Landfills where waste is dumped and burnt will be restructured for more energy efficient and environmentally sound methods.

The master plan will be put into action over the next 25 years but a public education campaign will begin immediately.

"The most important aspect of this plan is community engagement," said Issa Al Qubaisi, general manager of Tadweer, adding, "Our plan cannot succeed unless we follow a plan and without the participation of the community we won't get anywhere."

Al Qubaisi said the master plan covered "educating students in schools, information in the workplace and in the home environment".

He said that the plan was part of the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 and a step towards building a sophisticated waste management system in line with the highest international standards.