Emirates Biotech and United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) launched a joint research project on 17 September 2026 to design, build and operate an integrated organic-waste valorisation pilot near the university’s Al Ain campus. The company says the plant will process mixed food waste containing compostable packaging and convert it into renewable biogas and nutrient-rich compost. The announcement describes a research and model-development pilot, rather than a commercial-scale operating plant. Its planned input capacity is up to 40 kilograms of organic waste per day.

The project focuses on converting organic waste into more than one output instead of treating it solely as material for disposal. Emirates Biotech says the process will combine anaerobic digestion and composting. The partners intend to gain technical and operating experience with a system that handles mixed food waste alongside compostable packaging. Biogas is produced when organic matter breaks down without oxygen, while compost is processed organic material used to improve soil. The launch announcement did not specify daily volumes of gas or compost, power-generation capacity, or commercial buyers for the outputs.

The two-year research project runs from August 2026 to August 2028. Installation and commissioning are expected by August 2027, so the announcement does not establish that the plant was already operating. The partners intend to develop technical and operating guidance that could inform possible scale-up in the UAE and elsewhere. No investment decision or timetable for larger sites was announced. The 40-kilogram daily input limit means the pilot is not intended to treat the country’s municipal waste stream.

Representatives of Emirates Environmental Group, Hotpack, AW Rostamani Group’s VerraPak, Tadweer Group, the University of Sharjah and Pacogreen attended the launch. The announcement did not assign each organisation an ownership or operating role at the pilot facility; UAEU is the academic partner in the research project.

Emirates Biotech estimates that food waste makes up nearly 40% of the UAE’s daily municipal solid waste, much of which it says is landfilled. This is company-supplied national context, not a pilot finding. The company says a laboratory assessment will examine whether biogas could be converted into renewable hydrogen. It also estimates that a future scaled plant could reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 89% compared with landfilling. That is a conditional company estimate, not a measured pilot result or independent verification. The next useful indicators are the operating date, waste types and volumes, gas and compost yields, packaging-residue separation, and product safety and quality tests. The launch release does not provide those measurements.