Qatar Rail has reported savings of QR13 million ($3.6 million) in excavation by reusing several thousand tonnes of demolition and excavation waste materials generated from tunnel excavation to build underground stations.

The company's initiative to recycle the excavation waste materials comes as part of Qatar National Vision 2030 that has environmental development built into it as one of its visions for the next 15 years.

Several major companies like Qatar Rail, Ashghal and government entities are looking to reuse and recycle excavation and construction waste and are spearheading the drive on behalf of the government, The Peninsula reported.

With its initial success, Qatar Rail is now targeting 100 per cent reuse of the excavated waste generated from its projects, it stated.

"The project targets 100 per cent reuse for excavated waste and less than 10 per cent waste for landfill," said Mark Evans, the environmental and sustainability manager, PMC Major Stations Department at Qatar Rail, on the sidelines of the sixth edition of Waste Management and Recycling Summit held in Doha.

"We're not far off with our target actually. We're not quite 100 per cent yet but we're 95 per cent currently," he added.

The company overseeing the construction of Qatar's integrated railway network, Qatar Rail said it aims at raising the recycle share from eight per cent to 38 per cent of solid waste, reducing landfill of 53 per cent and converting waste to energy, according to Nispana, a global business intelligence solutions provider which hosted the summit.

Photo Credit: Avi Viljoen