Recycling is one of the most important "R" of the 3 basic mantras of Environmentalism. Recycling effectively is a good way to start making a difference in reducing the country's carbon footprint.

There are many waste management companies/agencies doing recycling services in UAE. I would like to share details about some of them and their recycling programs:

DULSCO

Dulsco WMS plays a significant role in waste management, recycling in the UAE. Their recycling initiatives custom designed for various sectors, from corporate organizations, educational institutions to the community at large. In line with its commitment to the environment,  they provide turnkey recycling initiatives like:

1. Collection and transport of recyclables

2. Provision of bins and related equipment

3. Reporting and Analysis

4. Customized education and awareness programs

Dulsco introduced the 'Recycle to Regain' van that collects recyclables such as plastic, paper and cardboard, and tins and cans from residential and corporate communities. They also collect glass (comprising of bottles and jars)  and used Cooking Oil from restaurants and other food joints. This prevents the degeneration of our surroundings by reducing the volume of waste that goes into landfills.

Their recycling resources include:

1. Colour coded bins of standard sizes

2. Custom-made bins for placement at particular sites

3. Colour coded cages made to Municipality guidelines and designed to allow easier collection and transport of the recyclables

4. Drums for used cooking oil

 5. Fleet of vehicles or a sub-contractor's vehicles to transport recyclables.

Emirates Environmental Group(EEG)

The Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) is a non-governmental professional working group founded in 1991 in Dubai, UAE. EEG is composed of corporate members, federal and local government agencies, reputed regional and international institutions, universities, colleges and schools, as well as students, individuals and families. With more than 2,000 volunteers from across UAE, EEG considered as one of the most active environmental NGO's in the region. Its office is in Jumeirah, Dubai.

It runs many recycling campaigns though out the year. Few of it's popular campaigns are:

Neighbourhood  Recyling Campaign : Those who give a specified amount of recyclables are awarded trees in their names. For last few years I have been contributing and getting trees in my name as a green reward. Top recyclers are awarded by EEG every year in an annual ceremony which is around World Environment Day every year.

Can for a tree (Can Recycling)

Youth Day Recycling Program

Bee'ah

Bee'ah is Sharjah's environment and waste management company.  It has 17,927 recycling touch points in UAE. It offers following programs or facilities to encourage residents or officers for recycling:

My Bee'ah Loyalty program: A programme that rewards community members for their environmental actions by extending the environmental principle of the three Rs even further to become Reduce, Re-use, Recycle and Redeem. There are RVM(Reverse Vending Machines) in which you can put plastic bottles or cans and earn points which can be redeemed later. I have been using this for many years and I am not only a Loyalty club members of Bee'ah but also won 3^rd best Bee'ah Champion award for my recycling contribtion through this program.

Recycling on the Go/Public Recycling :Various bins and options are made available for us to recycle our waste in parks, roads and other public areas. 

Residential Recycling : Bee'ah has Residential Recycling Programme to promote waste segregation, ultimately diverting more waste from the landfill to be recycled. The programme includes the introduction of two types of bin installations accompanied by direct door-to-door awareness and training introducing the programme and explaining the simplicity of recycling. This initiative alone has helped increase recycling levels, adding to the rate of waste diverted from landfill in Sharjah.

Office & School Recycling : Bee'ah offers Office & School Recycling services aiming to help manage organisations and schools' waste sustainably and efficiently. Recyclables are collected via bins placed underneath or next to a desk, or a 3-stream recycler or blue single-stream totes.

To help implement the programme efficiently, Bee'ah provides training sessions to help promote source segregation, ultimately diverting more waste from the landfill to be recycled. The sessions introduce the 3 Rs (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle), and highlight the simple methods of how to implement and promote recycling, in addition to offering tips on how to implement green practices and behaviours at the office or school.

Bee'ah's Waste Recycling Facilities 

Material Recovery Facility

Bee'ah manages the Middle East's largest Material Recovery Facility and the third largest in the world, and the largest in the Middle East.The Material Recovery Facility is a specialized facility that sorts and separates recyclable materials from municipal solid waste, through mechanical and manual processes. With an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes, the MRF is currently processing over 1,000 tonnes of general waste daily, of which an estimated 67% is being recycled and thus diverted from the landfill.

Bales of plastic, paper and aluminum and steel cans are packed into trucks at the facility bound for organizations to process into new materials for re-use in the economy. The organic waste is then taken to the Compost Plant and the remaining non-recyclable waste is deposited in the innovative and engineered landfill.

Tyre Recycling Facility(TRF)

The TRF is a world-class facility that uses state-of-the-art cryogenic processes to recycle used tyres. It is the best solution to recycle millions of tyres currently stored at the Bee'ah Waste Management Center, and helps avoid wasting valuable land space, prevents fire hazards, and negates a potential habitat for mosquitoes, rats and other vermin. The TRF uses a modern cryogenic process to recycle 9,000 used tyres every day. The tyres are converted to crumb rubber which can be used for different applications, such as running tracks, grass-surfaced and stadium playing areas, miniature golf courses and artificial turf infill. Four different size ranges of crumb rubber result from the process, which can also produce rubber tiles, rubber mulch, and molded products which can be used for flooring in jogging tracks, play grounds, landscaping, equestrian golf turfs or can be combined with asphalt for rubberized roads.

Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Facility

More than 6,000 tonnes of construction waste made up of concrete, bricks, wood, insulation and asphalt, is processed daily at Bee'ah's Construction & Demolition Waste Recycling Facility, for re-use as aggregate for roads, pavements and walkways. Construction & Demolition Waste Recycling Facility – is one of the busiest facilities in the region given the rate of construction and demolition in the UAE. The facility is charged with waste reduction and the recycling of construction, demolition and land clearing debris resulting from the construction industry. Using mammoth machinery, large pieces/blocks of concrete and debris are broken down under great pressure and processed in approximately 15 minutes. The byproduct is then reused as aggregate for roads, pavements and walkways, or even for landscaping. This saves tonnes of resources, conserves energy and alleviates the burden on landfills.

Liquid Waste Recycling

Two oil lagoons and industrial waste water evaporation ponds, at the Bee'ah Waste Management Center (WMC), are specialized facilities that separate oil and waste from water, which are then processed for reuse in irrigation and energy. The process starts with haulage vehicles discharging hydrocarbon based water into the oil lagoon. Eventually the oil is fragment from the water and is skimmed, collected and resold. The water is then pumped into the water lagoon and pumped into the mobile tankers for dust suppression on site. This is a safe and efficient solution for the use of the grey water.

Compost Plant

The Beeah Waste Management Center houses a Compost Plant, turning organic and vegetation waste into fertilizer and compost. Both of these end-products are then processed and used for irrigation and farming, including the greening of Sharjah City's pavements and streets.

The Car and Metal Shredding and Recycling Facility

Considered the world's most powerful shredding machine to date, the Car and Metal Shredding & Recycling Facility's main purpose is the shredding of old car bodies and other light metal scrap, with the aim of segregating the individual metal, glass and plastic components for recycling.

The Car Shredding and Recycling Facility forms part of Bee'ah's integrated waste management solution and is considered the world's most powerful shredding machine to date.

The facility is operated on crawler tracks so it can travel distances, weighs 44 tonnes and can shred 60 tonnes of car bodies per hour.

Increase in landfill charges to minimize waste and increase recycling: The UAE cannot succeed in recycling until its residents assume the responsibility or are pressured into it by Government regulations and incentives. So to encourage residents to reduce the waste adding to landfill (and to recycle the maximum), Dubai Municipality increased the landfill charges.

Companies that choose to dump their rubbish in a landfill are not only damaging the environment, they are harming their finances. Costs levied on businesses that opt to simply bury their rubbish will increase.

With this move, Dubai Municipality hopes to reduce the amount of waste sent to its landfill site.

The fees are part of the emirate's aim for zero waste to landfill by 2030. As part of the plan, 13 recycling areas will be launched in municipal parks and service centres.

Waste-disposal companies will transfer additional cost to clients, such as malls and developers.

This will be like an incentive for businesses to recycle rather than dump in landfill.

My efforts towards recycling:

I have been segregating waste into recyclable and non recyclable for many years now. I have a dedicated 'Recycling Corner' at my home. All recyclables I give to EEG and Bee'ah. To inculcate the habit of recycling in my community, I set up a waste segregation system in our building which is very successfully working and has taught my building residents about recycling, it's benefits to environment and other simple eco tips.

I don't throw my old/tight clothes. I give them for needy .  Even Text books I recycle by passing down to juniors.

I take every opportunity to spread awareness about the need to protect the environment by reycling and  reducing waste. I have campaigned at malls, supermarkets, labour camp, big factory in India, festival get-togethers, summits etc to convince and encourage people for recycling.

I made coffee tables from discarded tyres.  I use these tables in my environment awareness sessions or campaigns and demonstrate that it is not difficult to recycle waste is not a waste till it is wasted, and everything has a value and can be reused or recycled. Many people appreciated those tables and have got inspired from them.

On the eve of 'International Youth Day', I organized a campaign "Save Paper, Save Trees, Save Planet" to convey very strong messages in a very inclusive/practical manner. I asked each of the 40 participants to collect and get 25kg paper each so that it will make 1000 kg. I had arranged a trip to sustainable building of DEWA, Al Quiz for these students (with bus arranged by me). I kept 25 kg papers as the eligibility for DEWA building tour. So those who collect and bring 25 kg papers were to be taken in bus for DEWA building tour. This way I got 1000 kg paper which was given for recycling. I explained them "see how we all together contributed to recycling 1000 kg paper which saves 17 mature trees and 4000 kW of energy.  So we all saved 17 mature trees and 4000 kw of energy". I proved them with example and by involving them that it is simple to be eco-friendly and save energy. I also showed them that in order to reduce carbon footprint, I arranged a bus so that we all could commute together to DEWA. I told them that likewise even they can reduce carbon emissions by using public transport or shared transport for their travels in their daily lives.  This way by involving them in this campaign , I conveyed/ taught them that it is important to recycle paper to save trees, save energy and hence the planet.

By linking few parents (working in Dubai) to company called 'Enviroserve', I have helped in disposing

their un-wanted inventory in an environmentally friendly manner. Enviroserve 'cannibalises' the waste to extract precious metals and other recyleables . It disposes off rest (non recyclable parts) in eco-safe manner.