UAE recycling takes to the water

Dubai: Plastic bottles have never been so useful. While sorting your waste this month put a thought, and your bottles, aside for the first Whatever Floats Your Boat competition.

Amateur boat builders will be able to design and create their own plastic vessel and race in the first competition of its kind, to raise money for the Emirates Environment Group.

In conjunction with Dubai Festival City and IGY Marinas, the InterContinental Dubai Festival City is putting together the first annual boating festival to be held at Festival Marina on October 24 and 25.

Participants must make a boat out of recyclable materials and race in teams of four across the marina.

The two-day event aims to raise the level of awareness towards recycling in the city, encourage people to be proactive and recycle more. Participation fees are Dh10,000 and all proceeds will go to the Emirates Environmental Group towards their Clean the Creek campaign.

All teams are required to build a boat comprised solely of recycled materials, and adhere to the set rules and regulations. Five teams will race against each other. There will be prizes for the first boat to cross the finish line, the boat with the most creative design and crew costume, and the biggest number of team supporters.

All crafts must be completed by Saturday October 18. Boats can be up to 15 metres long and the boat which crosses the finish line first with all starting team members still on board will win a Bistro Madeleine lunch or dinner for up to eight people and shopping vouchers worth Dh2,000.

Union Paper Mills will provide recyclable materials, bins as well as recycling banks for the collection of glass, bottles, newspapers and plastic waste throughout the event.

Any registered companies who do not have access to enough materials to build their own boats will be supplied with items from UPM. All recycled materials collected on the day including the boats will be recycled by UPM.

Open to all

Between 5,000 to 10,000 spectators are expected every day and the boats will be displayed a week prior to the event at the Festival Centre shopping centre. The event is open to individuals, schools or companies who may want to include it as part of their corporate social responsibility programme.

According to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) 1.5 million tonnes of plastic are used to bottle water every year, unfortunately the recycling process is messy and inefficient but sales of bottled water have increased by 500 per cent over the last decade.

Statistics show that Dubai is one of the world's largest producers of waste and residents create more than 1.5 kilograms per person per day.