An year ago , Dubai Municipality had launched an initiative "My City My Environment" campaign  in line with the green vision of the leaders of the nation. 

Campaign aimed to educate UAE residents about the importance and practices of proper waste management and source segregation  and  to inculcate and sustain a behavioural change in the residents in terms of proper waste management.  For this , it had partnered with Dulsco, a regional pioneer in waste management solutions and human resource solutions.

Dulsco was chosen by Dubai Municipality to handle two of the largest areas of Dubai comprising families living across 7,000 villas in Jumeirah 1, 2, 3 and Safa 1 and 2. These areas have 60,000 residents. Dulsco worked closely with Dubai Municipality to ensure awareness was provided to all people involved including families, maids, schools and commercial establishments. 

As part of the campaign , Dulsco did various activities including awareness programmes for maids, distribution of communication campaign materials, door-to-door visits by Dulsco team and Green Hope volunteers, surprise gifts for active recyclers and beach clean-up campaigns among other initiatives. The residents were urged to actively participate and play an important role in eradicating and proper management of waste through the 3Rs: 'Reduce, Reuse and Recycle'.

These environmentally conscious residents from Jumeirah and Safa were given a 240-litre, colour-coded trash bins: green for recyclables and black for general waste. General waste is being collected daily, while recyclables on alternate days.

Campaign made the families environmentally conscious. It helped them and brought the convenience of recycling to their doorstep.They started recycling and spreading the word further among friends and neighbours. Families in those areas used to be worried about what actually happens to their recyclables – but the Dulsco team showed them a video of the materials being recovered and sorted. This gave them an assurance that their recycling efforts were not going wasted. 

While celebrating the first year anniversary of Dubai Municipality's "My City My Environment" Campaign, Dulsco announced that Campaign was so effective that residents from Jumeirah 1, 2, 3 and Safa 1 and 2 in a year has recycled waste that is equivalent to saving 14.7 million gallons of water 12,219,162 kWh (Kilo-watt hours) of electricity 126,126 pounds of air pollution prevented from being released 61,107 million btu's of energy 35,736 trees and 44,435 barrels of oil.

The increasing population of the UAE and development of several residential and commercial clusters also adds a lot of pressure on waste management and thereby puts a lot of pressure on the landfill if it is not managed properly. The UAE currently has one of the highest carbon footprints in the world but  if everyone participates, then a zero-waste society is possible. Success of campaigns like this are an evidence. 

Source : The Gulf Today