The Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach is flanked by Dubai’s longest stretch of natural beachfront and is often compared to Beverly Hills due to the numerous mansions and celebrity hotspots.
Environmental preservation is important for the livelihood of the the hotel and coastal communities. The Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach has multiple sustainability initiatives in place which include waste reduction and sustainable food and beverage programs. The hotel’s engineering and EHS team reached out to multiple consultants to identify ways to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill. The EHS team found that food waste biodigesters worked the best for their specific needs. The hotel ran a trial with multiple biodigesters and found the LFC biodigester from Power Knot as the best in class solution.
In October 2022, the resort purchased an LFC-200 biodigester and had it installed in the hotel by Power Knot Middle East. The biodigester from Power Knot allows Four Seasons Dubai at Jumeirah Beach to effectively divert waste from the landfill by digesting it onsite and greatly reduce long term waste management costs.
Grounding Costs of Landfill Waste
Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach had originally been sending all their waste to the landfill. An outsourced waste management service would come every few days to weigh the waste, charge by the kilogram, and haul it away to the landfill. Most of the waste from the hotel was organic by nature.
About 75% of the UAE’s waste is sent to the landfill. When organic waste is sent to the landfill, the nutrients of the waste do not return to the Earth. Instead, the organic waste begins to rot and releases methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a climate super pollutant which has more than 87x the warming power of carbon dioxide after it reaches the atmosphere. Although carbon dioxide has a longer-lasting effect, methane has a higher immediate impact.
Additionally, the six existing landfills in Dubai have been filling up quickly due to rising economic and population growth. In 2022, Dubai launched a new environmental strategy to boost recycling rates, meet international standards for emissions and sustainability, and propel the Emirate towards its goal of sending zero waste to landfill.
Best Solution: Biodigester
With new environmental mandates and growing awareness around the impact of organic waste in landfill, the engineering and EHS team at Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach were keen to find a new solution for their organic waste. Through an extensive evaluation of the existing organic waste solutions, Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach found that food waste biodigesters made the most sense for their facility.
Biodigesters use microorganisms to digest organic waste in a way that renders out any solids. Any undigested materials remain in the machine where kitchen staff can safely remove them.
Due to its beachfront location, the hotel needed a solution that would take up as little space as possible, maintain low operating costs, and have minimal impact on the environment. A food waste biodigester met these requirements.
Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach tried various biodigesters. Despite the smaller size, the LFC biodigester from Power Knot was much more efficient and had higher product quality build than its competitors. The LFC biodigester also came with data analytics and reporting which would allow the EHS team to remotely monitor the machine at any time.
The LFC-200 biodigester was installed in the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach in October 2022. The machine digested more than 2,000 kg of waste in January 2023.
