Dubai: Dubai Municipality on Tuesday unveiled a new recycling centre with colour-coded slots to deposit 15 different kinds of waste items.
Dubbed ‘Smart and Sustainable Oasis Recycling Centre’, officials said the new facility is smart and sustainable and will encourage Dubai residents to segregate and recycle various types of rubbish.
It operates 24x7 at the parking lot of Al Manara Centre on Shaikh Zayed Road. Twelve more such recyclables collection centres will come up in densely populated areas in the first phase of the project.
Hussain Nasser Lootah, director-general of Dubai Municipality, said the project aims to help reduce the quantity of waste going to the landfills and encourage residents to adopt a culture of recycling.
“It is very important to reduce waste generation and reuse and recycle as much as possible,” he said after inaugurating the station. Lootah said thousands of people visiting the Al Manara Centre every day are expected to be aware of the facility and use it. The other locations for the recyclable stations will be announced later.
‘Take part in recycling wastes and give us a new life cycle’ is the slogan used to encourage the public to deposit used paper and cardboard, cans, plastics, metals, glass (clear and coloured), clothing/ fabric, rubber, leather, and electronic waste (electrical appliances, mobile phones, hard disks).
Materials including medical waste and flammable items are not accepted at the facility which is monitored by CCTV.
Imad Juma Mohammad, the head of Technical Services and Studies Section at the Waste Management Department, told Gulf News that the smart system in the centre includes a smart screen to publish awareness messages, a sound system that thanks users for caring about the environment and for using the recyclable collection facility, and sensors that send reports of container fullness levels.
He said the recycling station is sustainable in many ways. “First of all, this station is made of a used container and it operates with solar power and energy-efficient electrical fixtures. We have provided easy access to the disabled and hand rails to support the elderly.”
With Ramadan just round the corner, Lootah reminded the public about reducing food wastage during the month and Eid.
“One of the big challenges that we are facing is the big percentage of organic waste … If you compare us with the Scandinavian countries, their organic waste is about five per cent, whereas in the UAE it is some 30 to 35 per cent (of total waste generated). People here are spoiled and throw a lot of food into waste,” he said, calling for conscious efforts to reduce food wastage.
However, depositing general waste at the recycling centre and scavenging are strictly prohibited and punishable by law.
Ossama Al Natour, managing director of Averda, the company that has partnered with the municipality to collect the rubbish deposited at the facility, said the recyclables will be sent to recycling companies approved by the municipality.
Types of waste
13 smart and sustainable oasis recycling centres will come up across Dubai in the first phase of the project. They receive recyclables such as:
Cans
Metals
Large e-waste
Mobile phones
Hard disk drives
Electrical lamps
Batteries
Wood
Leather
Textiles & fabrics
Plastic
Paper
Cardboard
Clear glass
Coloured glass
Rubber
Other recyclables
