Thousands of Dubai residents seek to get rid of used furniture, appliances amid COVID-19

Dubai: Thousands of Dubai residents have been seeking municipal service to clear bulk waste such as home furniture and used electrical and electronic appliances amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dubai Municipality has recorded significant increase in requests for its bulky waste disposal service from the public during the year, the civic body said on Monday.

“From the beginning of 2020 until mid-December, the Municipality received 13,002 requests for bulky waste disposal, while the number of requests for the same period last year was 9,602, which is an increase of 35 per cent,” the municipality said in a media statement.

Public awareness

Abdulmajeed Abdul Aziz Al Saifaie, director of Waste Management Department said that the increased number of requests received by the Department shows the extent to which the public is aware of the service provided by the Municipality and awareness about the correct way to get rid of bulky waste. He said it also shows the effectiveness of the electronic awareness efforts that the Municipality carries out through social media channels, lectures and field programmes.

He said that this service is offered by the Municipality in line with the directives of the wise government aimed at enhancing the distinguished position occupied by the Emirate of Dubai in the field of service, environment, and community happiness.

Who can avail the service, and how?

Dubai Municipality allows individuals to apply for the bulky waste disposal service that includes home furniture, used electrical and electronic appliances and this contributes greatly to preserving the aesthetic and cultural appearance of the city, the official pointed out.

Saifaie emphasised that the bulky waste disposal service, which has been provided to the public since 2005, is one of the most important initiatives and services that are provided to the public around the clock and easily.

It is available to individuals who live in the Emirate of Dubai, except in real estate development zones and free zones, through the app Dubai 24/7.

“Senior citizens and people of determination can apply for the service easily by calling Dubai Municipality Call Center on 800900,” he pointed out.

How is the service provided?

This service is provided by a qualified work team with a work programme in the morning period from Saturday to Thursday. A tablet App is provided to the supervisors through which the requests are sent to the field team.

The completion of requests from members of the public are followed up and the quality of the service provided to them is ensured.

The bulk waste collected from the city is utilised through companies specialised in recycling, which in turn sort the waste and reuse and recycle most of it.

Coordination is being made with the administration of facilities and developers in the real estate development areas to provide programmes for the proper disposal of bulky waste to facilitate the residents of these areas and to follow the correct procedures in disposing of waste, which strengthens the community role of these authorities in maintaining the cleanliness of the Emirate of Dubai, which is one of the cleanest cities the world.

Safety measures

Saifaie pointed out that despite the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and movement restriction, the service continued by following the precautionary measures by the field work team.

Safety measures were taken to protect the workers providing the service and customers by adhering to the safe distance and following public health and safety procedures while providing the service and dealing with customers

In addition to that, all safety requirements were provided to the team including Personal Protective Equipment for workers, and personal safety and sterilisation materials for daily use.

Social responsibility

The municipality said the bulky waste disposal service was strengthened and developed during the previous period as a result of understanding and meeting the needs of customers, which is among the priorities of the Dubai government, and that the development of government services with social responsibility is one of the main pillars in Dubai Municipality.

The Municipality has relied on conducting studies to measure the opinion of the community and customers to monitor performance and observations on development and calculation of the general happiness index for this community service. The community happiness rate for the bulky waste disposal service reached 94 per cent last year and the Municipality aims to raise this to 100 per cent this year, the release said.