Abu Dhabi recovers 850,000 empty water bottles a week for recycling

Abu Dhabi: More than 850,000 single-use plastic bottles are collected each week in Abu Dhabi for recycling, the emirate’s environment sector regulator has announced.

The concerted recycling and plastic use reduction efforts increased plastic bottle recovery last year by more than four times compared to 2021, the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) has announced.

“[About] 30 million bottles have been recovered in the past six months, compared to 7. 2 million bottles in 2021. Be the change, reduce single-use,” the EAD said.

Single-use Plastic Policy

The collection and recycling of plastic bottles in the emirate is part of the emirate’s Single-Use Plastic Policy, which aims to eliminate single-use plastics over time. In one of the policy’s most visible efforts, single-use plastic bags have been banned from distribution in the emirate since June 2022, and the EAD reported that Abu Dhabi has prevented the use of 87 million single-use plastic bags by the end of November.

Bottle collection

Since September 2022, the EAD has also installed Big Zero collection points across the emirate for empty water bottles. Shaped like big, hollow zeroes, the mobile Big Zero installations are placed in prime locations with high footfall, including malls, parks and public event venues, in order to encourage recycling and mindfulness about plastic use among visitors.