From families, to hotels, to hospitals, nearly everyone in Dubai approaches a dry-cleaning facility to meet the need of having clean clothes. While dry cleaning may help you upkeep garment quality, it also generates waste that must be managed properly to mitigate its effect on the environment. Additionally, incorrectly disposing of these chemicals could be toxic to you, your employees, your customers, and the environment.

Are you a laundromat located in Dubai looking to dispose of your waste safely? AAKI is here to help!

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Waste Management: Dry Cleaning in Dubai

  1. Commonly generated wastes during dry cleaning

1.1 PERCs

1.2 Wastewater

1.3 Sludge

  1. Understanding the mandates for laundry waste disposal in Dubai
  1. Application for the Disposal of Hazardous Waste in Dubai
  2. Required Documents to be Attached in the WDS Application

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  1. Commonly generated wastes during dry cleaning
  • PERCs: PERC, or perchloroethylene is a colorless liquid chemical compound and is commonly used as a cleaning agent in the commercial industry.
  • Wastewater: Laundry wastewater is a byproduct from dry cleaning, laden with chemicals and particles from fabrics.
  • Sludge: You might be familiar with lint- tiny, soft pieces of fiber that come off from fabrics like clothing, towels, etc. While you might be able to get rid of this lint with a lint remover at home; laundromats and dry cleaners accumulate tons of this lint which combines with surfactants, bleaching agents, organic matter, and detergent waste – resulting in a mixture called ‘sludge’.
  1. Understanding the mandates for laundry waste disposal in Dubai
  • Perchloroethylene (PERCs)

Being classified as a carcinogen, PERC is a hazardous waste that needs to be disposed of safely. Recycling, treatment, or proper disposal is thus necessary, to prevent its release into the environment. PERCs can be disposed of safely through the Dubai Municipality website, where AAKI can assist your company in securing the permit from collection, to transport, to actual disposal of PERCs in Dubai. AAKI guarantees that this waste will be destructed and disposed of safely.

  • Wastewater

According to the Dubai Municipality, wastewater from laundries is strictly not allowed to go through soak-away systems, since these systems are meant to treat relatively cleaner water (like rainwater). Instead, Dubai’s dry cleaners are meant to discharge wastewater under a trade-waste agreement to the sewerage systems, treated on-site, and recycled.

The Dubai Municipality makes it mandatory for laundromats and dry cleaners in Dubai to meet the right sewage standards with their wastewater before it can be deposited through the sewage. In reference to the Technical Guidelines, laundry companies are expected to comply with the specified sewage standards. These companies may be fined if they do not meet the regulated standards of the decided parameters, for example, meeting pH levels, moisture content, etc. To make the wastewater disposal process easier, you can contact AAKI, and we will ensure that your laundry’s wastewater is correctly deposited and recycled in a way that is non-toxic and non-harmful to the environment.  

  • Sludge

Sludge can be difficult to dispose due to how contaminated it is. Laundromats can put away this sludge in a storage facility or send it to incineration or landfills.  Technical Guidelines 8 suggest that it is mandatory for a company to secure an analysis report from an EIAC accredited laboratory. However, we at AAKI can help eradicate your sludge waste through recycling. From securing your permits, to storage, to recycling waste, AAKI takes care of any laundry waste you have.

Additionally, launderers and dry cleaners in Dubai are mandated by the Dubai Municipality to obtain a WDS permit every 3 months. AAKI can assist you in obtaining these permits in an easy and convenient way.

 

  • Application for the Disposal of Hazardous Waste in Dubai

Pointers to keep in mind:

Note: These pointers have been extracted from Technical Guidelines 8 on the Dubai Municipality’s website.

  • Companies in Dubai producing more than 300 m3/year of hazardous water must set up a wastewater plant or use an approved facility to handle the waste. If they plan to transport the waste to a different facility, they need a permit known as the WDS for hazardous waste disposal.
  • You need to declare the total amount of waste you want to dispose of in your request. This includes the waste you already have and the waste you expect to produce over the next three months. This is because the WDS approval you receive will be valid for only three months. 
  • Required Documents to be Attached in the WDS Application
  • Analysis Report from accredited laboratories
  • Photos of the waste
  • Must contain photos of the waste (including container, area where the waste was generated, and showing all wastes).

Contact AAKI at 8002254 or info@aaki.ae for expert advice on how you can dispose of your laundry waste. With our team, you can achieve your environmental goals with personalized waste management plans – only through AAKI.