Dubai: Come mid-October, there will be no more excuses for not recycling your waste — authorities confirmed on Thursday that they will be distributing 40,000 recyling bins to 20,000 villas.
“We recently signed a five-year contract with the concerned company, and 12 residential sectors will receive recycling bins so they can segregate waste at the source,” Abdul Majeed Saifaie, Director of the Waste Management Department, told Gulf News on Thursday.
Although the project has been delayed for over six months, Saifaie confirmed that the project for household recycling will be rolled out on October 15.
“The 12 residential sectors set to receive the recycling bins include Umm Suqeim, Al Safa, Barsha 1 and 2, Al Manara, Jumeirah 1 and 2, Al Wasl, and Al Safa,” he said.
He said that the bins will be placed outside homes and the garbage will be collected by municipality trucks, and explained that waste segregation at the source not only facilitates recycling in Dubai but also helps in reducing pressure on landfills.
Dubai generates about 7,800 tonnes of waste daily, leaving the waste management company Tadweer to collect and recycle 1,000 tonnes a day of aluminium, cardboard, and plastic bottles.
Saifaie was speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the annual Waste Free Environment Day, which was organised by the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA) at Hamriya Port.
The campaign was held to raise awareness on the need to preserve the environment and reduce the irresponsible disposal of waste. The event was held in nine cities across six Gulf countries, including Sohar, Jeddah, and Manama, and witnessed the participation of over 2,500 volunteers who collected 10,000 kilogrammes of waste.
“Of the 80 million tonnes of waste generated in the Gulf each year, plastic waste is responsible for approximately one third or 26 million tonnes of waste,” said Dr Abdul Wahab Al Sadoun, secretary general of GPCA.
The recycling rate in the Gulf has been estimated at less than 10 per cent of total waste, leading to a loss of five million tonnes per year at a staggering $25 million (Dh90 million).
“Plastic waste is a big loss for the community because it ends up in incinerators or in landfills. At GPCA, we act as a catalyst and try to call for best practices in waste management, which needs great cooperation between the government and private sector in the recycling industry,” said Al Sadoun.
He added that while fishermen do contribute to pollution in the waters, as much as 80 per cent of the plastic debris is blown in from land.
