A global waste management specialist has completed its first ever air-freighted incinerator system in record time, to help United Arab Emirates hospitals manage Coronavirus-infected waste.

Inciner8, based in Southport, Merseyside, has manufactured a series of COVID-19 incinerators, developed video-based installation tutorials, installed a range of remote monitoring systems, and created a bespoke logistics and air-freight solution with the Etihad Aviation Group.

An emergency order was placed for four high capacity burners when medical and hazardous waste levels soared, as COVID-19 cases spiked in the UAE. As a result, this required the systems to be delivered in under a fortnight and be capable of burning up to 1,000 kilos of waste an hour, for ten hours every day.

In response, Inciner8 manufactured and built two 200-kilo and two 300-kilo burners at its HQ in Southport, in under a week. After being air freighted by Etihad, teams were able to install the incinerators at several hospitals throughout Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in a matter of days. The whole process took eleven days and ensures that all waste related to the Coronavirus disease is treated with high flexibility at various locations.

GhaziSadledein, international sales manager for Inciner8, said:

“This is a-typical to the usual process of installing one of our incinerators overseas. Usually, without global travel restrictions, we would ship-freight the individual components of an incinerator and send out an engineer who would work with the team on the ground to build and install the system.

“During the process, the engineer would train the team in how to safely load waste, what should and shouldn’t go into a burner, how to maintain a safe capacity and much more. But due to the urgent nature of this request, and with the extra challenge of international lockdown due to COVID-19, we have had to take different steps, instead opting for air-freight and undertaking our tutorials via video conference and pre-recorded means.”

Inciner8’s bespoke solution also had to be configured to specific weightings and dimensions in order to be transported safely. Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of the Etihad Aviation Group, and the national carrier to the UAE, was appointed to transport the incinerators. To maintain social distancing rules currently in place in the UK, Inciner8 developed a series of tutorials for logistics staff at Heathrow Airport to safely load the systems onboard.

Ghazi said:

“We have had to implement as much plug and play technology into these systems to make them as simple as possible to install in the UAE, but understanding the intricacies of correctly packaging them for a safe flight added another layer of complexity to this order.

“Our ability to overcome this, and with such a short timeframe presented to us, is demonstrative of why we have a reputation for being an international manufacturer which can immediately mobilise, especially in such situations as we see in this COVID-19 era.”

Abdulla Mohamed Shadid, managing director, cargo and logistics services at Etihad Aviation Group, said:

“We are proud to have been entrusted with the air transportation of this equipment into the UAE. We continue to work alongside strategic partners and local entities to support the concerted national efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In 2019, Inciner8 was announced Export Company of the Year at the Liverpool Chamber Business Awards and was shortlisted in the International Company of the Year category at the Insider North West International Trade Awards. It has previously shipped its incinerators around the world to tackle epidemics such as SARS and Ebola, and its products are used in more than 170 countries.

Ghazi added:

“COVID-19 is proving a much more high-pressured situation than other pandemics due to its global footprint and the speed in which it is ending lives. Its high infection rate means any materials that come into contact with a patient must be destroyed, and hospitals and care settings around the world are feeling the pressure to effectively destroy these products. Incineration is the only guaranteed, safe way of doing that.”

For more information, visit www.inciner8.com.