How To Encourage UAE Residents and Businesses To Recycle Plastic
Over the past few decades, Dubai has experienced significant growth and development, opening its doors to people from across the globe to visit, work, live, and invest in. Today the country has a population of 9.5 million, composed of Emirati citizens and expatriates from over 200 countries.
While it is a tremendous feat for the country to be capable of providing a home for so many people, it does come with some consequences. As the population rises rapidly, so does the amount of waste generated in the Emirate. Presently, the per capita municipal solid waste generation in the country is about 1.9 to 2.5 kilograms a day, which is one of the highest in the world, making proper waste management one of the top priorities of the UAE government.
Recycling: Need of the hour
The government has taken actionable measures over the years to curb solid waste generation and manage disposal in the country. From improved urban waste management systems to sustainable initiatives that educate and make recycling accessible to the public, the UAE authorities, affiliated companies, and plastic recycling companies have joined hands to meet this issue head-on.
One of the most important considerations for improved waste management in the Emirates is to educate and encourage its residents to be conscious of their waste generation and disposal. Even today, the majority of the people residing in the country are unaware and often disinterested in the plastic recycling options available in their locality. This is where organizations like ours step in.
Proper recycling of plastics and other recyclable products can greatly reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. On average 77% of the solid wastes generated in the Emirates are diverted to the landfills, where they can stay buried for decades or even centuries without breaking down. Year after year, this trend of mindlessly disposing of our wastes has contributed to pollution whose after-effects are going to last for generations.
Recycling is also a great way to reduce manufacturing and overproduction of our daily-use items. Any kind of manufacturing requires the extraction of raw materials, which puts a tremendous amount of stress on our environment. As more and more of us turn eco-conscious and take up recycling plastics and other materials, we conserve our resources, protect wildlife, and help save Mother Nature.
Municipal waste is also one of the highest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the country. In line with the Net Zero Emissions mission, the UAE government is regularly setting up smart recycling bins throughout the country to make plastic recycling accessible to the public. There are also donation boxes and private organizations that collect old and used products and recycle or refurbish them for extended usage. All you need to do is to start recycling.
Getting people on board
To encourage UAE residents to recycle plastic, we believe in a combination of education, awareness-building, and infrastructure-improvement efforts. Here are some ways to get people on board to start recycling.
- Educational Campaigns:
Most of the schools, youth groups, and NGOs in the country have programs that teach children the importance of recycling and how to do it sustainably. As a result, we often see the younger residents initiate recycling efforts in their households.
- Public awareness programs and events:
Awareness programs and campaigns are the easiest way to reach the masses and teach them about the importance of recycling plastics and other materials. Efforts by Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center Tadweer, Dubai Municipality and the ‘Clean UAE’ campaign, organized by Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) in cooperation with the Ministries of Climate Change and Environment and Community Development are some of the successful ones to date. The Expo 2020 also saw sustainability initiatives take place in collaboration with big brands. One of the most successful ones included the use of reusable plastic bottles for filling up water at expo sites, thereby greatly reducing the use and disposal of plastic water bottles.
- Incentive programs
The UAE currently has some exciting incentive programs where people can sell plastic bottles for money. Aside from the regular recycling bins for waste segregation, residents in Dubai and Abu Dhabi now have access to reverse-vending machines where they can sell empty bottles and get paid to recycle their trash. These ‘Cycled Smart Bins’ can be used to sell empty bottles, allowing users to collect one point per bottle. On collecting 250 points, a Dh50 voucher that’s accepted at many of the participating outlets is issued to the users. The points can also be translated to Netflix gift cards to pay for the app subscription.
- Business recycling programs
Recycling is not just for households. Businesses are also expected to participate in recycling programs, collaborating with other companies to reduce their waste generation. One noteworthy initiative is done by RECAPP, a free-of-charge door-to-door recycling mobile app service in the UAE with a dedicated B2B digital recycling platform and has enabled businesses to deploy recycling boxes on their premises. The app also provides adapted digital solutions for retail stores, offices, schools, sports facilities, hotels, restaurants, and many other organizations within the country. As more and more businesses take an effort to start recycling within their premises, the trend becomes a sustainable system.
- Improved waste segregation systems
In many areas of the country, municipal waste collection collects unsegregated household wastes that are hard to sort through and recycle. To resolve this issue, resident communities and apartment buildings can mandate waste segregation at household levels. By removing plastic and other recyclable waste from organic and food waste and sanitary wastes, people can also help the existing systems to work seamlessly. Dubai residents are also encouraged to make use of the Bulk Waste Collection service by Dubai Municipality to dispose of their heavy furniture and electronics.
It is important to remember that creating a culture of recycling takes time and persistence. By streamlining the existing local waste management systems and consistently raising awareness, we can encourage the people of the UAE to adopt more sustainable recycling practices.
If you are looking to learn more about plastic recycling and selling empty bottles for money, check out our resources and blogs for additional information.
Sources:
https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/environment-and-energy/waste-management
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/benefits-of-recycling.php
https://sustainabilitytribe.com/december/uae-recycling-guide/
https://hub.dm.gov.ae/link/servicedetails?servicecode=3006
