Dubai in fight against waste

The Dubai Municipality has come out with practical tips encouraging residents to minimise waste generation in offices and households. Dubai generates an average of 8,000 tonnes of waste every day with each resident contributing about 2.7 kilograms, which translates into almost 1,000 kilograms per person a year. “ We want to encourage people to minimise waste generation and this campaign is another effort in that direction ” Abdul Majeed Abdul Aziz Saifaie, director of Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management Department “We want to encourage people to minimise waste generation and this campaign is another effort in that direction. As the holy month of Ramadan approaches, we thought it is an apt time to remind people about our beliefs of giving thought before they indulge in consuming in excess,” Abdul Majeed Abdul Aziz Saifaie, director of Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management Department, told Gulf News. Disposable mugs The civic body’s campaign advises people to carry their own ceramic mugs instead of using disposable ones while at work, print or photocopy on both sides of a paper, use online reminders instead of paper stickies, go for USB sticks rather than CDs and DVDs and use cloth towels for cleaning in office bathrooms and kitchens. At home, people can reduce the waste they generate by purchasing durable and quality goods that last long, repairing their furniture or household items instead of discarding them, donating used clothes and other stuff and purchasing according to their requirement. “We need to make efforts at all levels to reduce waste. By being careful about your consumption and the way you dispose off the waste, you can make a significant contribution to the environment,” said Saifaie. During the last three years, the average waste generated has come down, he said. “Along with minimising waste generation, we are also attempting to recycle 100 per cent of the waste that is generated in the emirate,” he added. While presently more than 80 per cent of the waste that is generated goes to landfills, the civic body has chalked out a plan to recycle 100 per cent of its waste by 2030. “We hope to achieve ‘zero land filling’ of waste by the end of 20 years through this waste minimisation strategy,” he said.