Dubai: Ras Al Khaimah will reach a major environmental milestone on Wednesday when the emirate rolls out a sweeping new recycling programme to divert 75 per cent of its waste away from the landfill.
Kerbside recycling is coming to homes, schools and businesses across the emirate to stem waste streams of garbage clogging up landfill sites as prescribed by UAE Vision 2021 goals, said officials on Sunday.
The new RAK Recycles initiative launches on Wednesday and will begin separation at source of recyclables to capture plastics, paper, glass and other materials, said Ras Al Khaimah Waste Management Agency.
The new programme “will transform the way the Ras Al Khaimah community manages its waste,” the agency said in a statement, noting that only seven per cent of municipal solid waste was recycled in the emirate last year.
Starting Wednesday, residents will separate recyclables from wet organic waste using specially marked garbage bags that will be colour coded green and brown to differentiate recyclable materials for pickup by waste crews.
The new bags will be made in Ras Al Khaimah and will be offered free to all users.
Traditional black garbage bags will continue to be used for traditional wet organic waste.
His Highness Shaikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, said in a statement that it is time to welcome the future with ecologically sustainable ways.
“It is with great pride that I support the introduction of the RAK Recycles initiative in Ras Al Khaimah. I encourage all those in Ras Al Khaimah to think about the sustainable lives we led in the past and to start living for a more sustainable future,” said Shaikh Saud.
“By using this new system, Ras Al Khaimah residents are also showing that they care deeply about a sustainable future. Together we can make our emirate clean and green now and for future generationsm,” he said.
Sonia Nasser, Executive Director of RAKWMA said: “Our main objective is to significantly improve the Ras Al Khaimah community’s commitment to sustainability and environmental protection from a grass roots level which includes schools and local businesses and the highest echelons of Government,” she said in a statement.
“Now is the time to act, to ensure we create a sustainable future for Ras Al Khaimah and to protect the environment for future generations.”
How it works
The trial areas for the first phase of the programme include the residential communities of Al Dhait, Rams and the Southern region.
Other neighbourhoods will come on line afterwards in 2018 including Al Hamra and Mina Al Arab in 2018.
Programme organisers said small businesses will also participate in the first phase, while schools will be brought into the recycling fold in a later separate phase for educational facilities.
“Under the initiative, clean and dry plastics, paper, cardboard, cans and glass bottles will be collected in green bags,” the agency said. “These recyclable materials will be sold as feedstock for new products, with income generated contributing to waste management costs in Ras Al Khaimah. Brown bags will be used to collect food waste, which will then be recycled into compost and other soil enhancement products. This will be utilised in community gardens and landscaping throughout the emirate.”
For details, contact (+971) 7 227 2555 or 800-81118, or follow Ras Al Khaimah Waste Management Agency on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RAKWasteManagement/
