Abu Dhabi residents warm up to can collection drive

A campaign to collect aluminium cans and send them for recycling has saved a huge amount of carbon emissions and reduced energy consumption over the past 15 years. The Emirates Environmental Group's (EEG) annual can collection campaign since 1997 has resulted in the mitigation of around 2,231.611 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide and has saved an estimated energy of 33,836.27 billion MTU, the group said on Thursday. Volunteers across the country collected 5,000 tonnes of cans on Thursday and sent them for recycling. Habiba Al Marashi, EEG chairperson said emptied beverage cans are not waste materials but valuable raw materials. "Recycling aluminum needs only five per cent of the energy required to derive it from its raw material bauxite ore." However, an estimated half a billion cans are sold annually in the UAE but only five per cent of these are sent for recycling, as against the average 63 per cent recycled worldwide, she said. Gulf News has reported the UAE economy is losing Dh1.5 billion every year due to inadequate recycling of waste, according to the Centre of Waste Management in Abu Dhabi (CWM). Thousands of volunteers from various government departments, educational institutions, hotels, companies, labour accommodations, social organisations and families responded to the call to drop their cans at eight drop-off points across the country on Thursday. "Inculcating the culture of recycling is the ultimate goal of this exercise. We want to create a society with a sense of responsibility and amity to save our Mother Earth's natural resources," the EEG chairperson said. The Can Collection Day is one of the action days organised by EEG in its Waste Management Programme. Another Can Collection Drive is slated on May 5 this year. The top collectors in the Can Collection Campaign, along with sponsors, supporters and volunteers, will be awarded during EEG's Annual Prize Giving Ceremony on June 5, in celebration of the World Environment Day.