UAE’s Terrax is importing a new technology from Brazil to recycle waste into plywood materials in a bid to support sustainable construction, the National reported on Sunday. The new tech will allow unwashed and unsegregated waste to be transformed into any product, the outlet notes, including decking boards, formwork, shuttering, pergolas, and cladding for houses. The company is expecting the machinery to arrive in September and is working with UAE-based waste management companies to source waste. Recycling waste to produce plywood reduces deforestation, as well as air and water pollution, given that their production is energy intensive and the material is used only 6-12x before it ends up in landfills, Terrax founders tell the National.

Lootah Biofuels is going overseas: Dubai-based Lootah Biofuels has signed an agreement with Maldives state-owned utility provider Fenaka Corporation to establish the company’s first biofuel production plant from waste cooking oil overseas, according to a press release. The statement did not provide details on the planned production plant’s capacity, investments being poured into the project, or timeline. The signing came during a visit by a delegation from Lootah Biofuels to the Maldives upon an invitation by the government to “discuss [potential] for cooperation and benefit from the company's expertise in biofuel production.”

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• Morocco’s Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and oil giant Shell have signed an agreement to study the availability of waste feedstocks to be used for the production of low carbon fuels including sustainable aviation fuel. (Morocco World News)
• Oman Power and Water Procurement Company and solid waste management firm Oman Environmental Service Holding Company (Be’ah) have completed the technical and economic feasibility studies to establish a waste-to-energy plant. (Muscat Daily)
• UAE’s MBM Holding signed a MoU with Canadian investment company Portland Holdings to collaborate in clean energy and healthcare. (Statement)
• Dutch-based chemical producer OCI Global and UK-based oilfield services provider Petrofac have entered into an exclusive agreement to design and deliver OCI’s gasification-based green methanol projects. (Statement)
• Morocco needs to scale up climate spending by USD 2.6 bn annually by 2030 to ensure a sustainable energy transition. (World Bank, pdf)
• Egypt’s Environment Ministry is setting up a Global Environment Facility (GEF) focused fund for biological diversity. (Statement)
• UAE’s Climate Change and Environment has launched a program to monitor plastic waste in the country’s coasts and marine ecosystems. (Wam)