Bee’ah launches car recycling service in UAE

The car shredding and recycling facility processes cars and light metal scrap, separating and reclaiming unique metals, glass and plastic

The car and metal shredding machine at the Bee’ah Waste Management Centre in Dhaid, Sharjah. — KT photo by M. Sajjad

What would’ve once been a sleek, black vintage Mercedes Benz coupe, now awaits the most ‘dreadful fate any car can face’.

It will undergo a process called shredding, where the engine of the car will be stripped, its tyres will most probably be reused in a recycled bicycle track, and whatever is left of this ‘once a beauty’ will come out in tiny chunks of scrap metal.

This particular 1960’s model is one among the last three cars waiting shredding at Bee’ah’s latest facility for recycling metals and car scrap. Bee’ah, the Sharjah-based company best known to be a leading provider for integrated environmental and waste management solutions, opened an advanced facility that will shred cars and scrap metal. The facility is considered to be part of Bee’ah’s complete waste management solution. The car shredding and recycling facility processes cars and light metal scrap, separating and reclaiming unique metals, glass and plastic. And it takes just 50 to 60 seconds for the facility to completely process a car.

“Car recycling helps both people and companies to grow, by contributing to saving the environment and its resources,” said Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO, Bee’ah. “Additionally, it returns material back into the economy cycle.” The car recycling service is considered to be the first of its kind in the UAE, representing an environmentally-friendly way to dispose of cars while extracting valuable materials. The machine, known as the ‘Red Giant’, manufactured by Hammel, is considered to be the perfect solution for dealing with tough materials — such as car bodies — in large volume.

The abandoned cars, which according to Bee’ah authorities cannot be used on road again, are supplied to the facility by Sharjah Municipality, Sharjah Police impounds, and other places. The plant has a group of workers who extract valuable metals and help recycle or reprocess plastics, upholstery, cables and mechanical parts. Once the extraction process is complete, the metal body of the car is fed into the shredder.

The plant was launched in October 2013. And after several testing phases, the plant officially opened on Wednesday, February 19. Officials said about 350 old cars have already been processed, but the actual capacity of the recycling plant is much larger.

“The shredder has a capacity of 60 vehicles an hour”, said Darker El Rabaya, director of waste processing at Bee’ah, the plant’s operator. Officials said the process will also greatly reduce the amount of landfill. Currently the plant is a vast stretch of land with piles of leftover car parts and chunks of metal. About 11,000 vehicles reach the end of their lives each month.

El Rabaya added: “The leftover raw materials are basically steel and aluminum. Both these metals are sold to interested buyers.”

In line with the new facility’s capabilities, Bee’ah is in the process of establishing agreements with international certified car part remanufacturing facilities in the US and Europe for all parts that are dismantled to be recycled as remanufactured parts. The car shredding and recycling facility processes cars and light metal scrap, separating and reclaiming unique metals, glass and plastic. It is also capable of processing wood, plastic, trees, cars, solid building materials, iron and non-iron metals of widths up to 120mm.

The company collects, restores and sells material such as plastic, iron, aluminum and tyres, which are sorted out to be reused. Bee’ah is currently looking for scrap cars that can be processed through its new facility, and invites institutions and authorities to contact the company.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com