Recycling best option to manage e-waste
dubai — The UAE is at the forefront of creating a sustainable society with reduced pollution in line with the UAE Vision 2021 and other government initiatives. Ewaste disposal, however, seems to be posing a challenge, although not to a great extent in the UAE.
Following 2017’s electronic waste (e-waste) collection drive that saw nearly two tonnes of discarded electronics find a new lease of life, Dubai Internet City (DIC) and Dubai Science Park (DSP) have joined forces once again to bring back the successful World Environment Day initiative this year.
According to the United Nations Environment Annual Report, 60 to 90 per cent of non-recycled e-waste is illegally dumped in Asian and African countries. The UAE is one of the major electronics consumers in the region, with one UN-sponsored project finding that the average resident generates 17.2 kilogrammes of ewaste every year, much of which contains harmful toxins, such as arsenic, cadmium and mercury. The campaign aims to address the country’s e-waste management problem through collecting and recycling retired devices in a bid to minimise the impact of high electronic consumption on the environment.
The 2017 campaign garnered the support of Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, who stressed that the disposal of e-waste presents a great challenge. He welcomed and encouraged private sector initiatives such as this one that support national efforts to achieve sustainability and reduce pollution.
Teaming up with global ridehailing service Uber and waste management company Averda for the second consecutive year to handle the collection and management functions of the drive on June 20 and 21, the 2018 campaign has been extended to include Dubai Media City and its partners.
Under the initiative, members of the business communities can have their e-waste — including items such as monitors, laptops, printers, cameras, keyboards, PC hardware and mobile phones — collected for recycling and refurbishment. The newly refurbished items will be donated to charitable causes.
The campaign aligns with the UAE’s ambition to achieve zero landfill waste by 2030. To participate, those within the communities can book an Uber through the mobile app to arrange a pick-up of their unwanted electronic goods. The collected items will be sent to Averda for waste management and recycling.
In GCC, most of the e-waste is
In GCC, most of the e-waste is dismantled and processed informally or it ends up in landfills Sahul Agarwala, managing director of Sahul Group
dismantled and processed informally or it ends up in landfills. Ewaste consists of materials such as plastics, aluminium and silver, copper, gold and ferrous metals which can be economically recovered through recycling processes and the hazardous materials can be disposed off scientifically without any adverse impact on health and environment, says Sahul Agarwala, managing director of Sahul Group.
Sahul Group, a UAE-based diversified business conglomerate, is setting up an integrated facility for refurbishment and recycling of electrical and electronic products to address the problem of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) at an investment of approximately Dh90 million. The 95,000 sqft facility which is under construction in Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjah, is expected to be operational soon and will process multiple types of WEEE using latest technology from Europe for its refurbishing and recycling operations.
“Recycling in other parts of the world is a paid service where companies and individual customers pay recyclers as per weight of the product to recycle electrical and electronic products in their possession. Our company is encouraging the practice of recycling and refurbishing by working with leading businesses to provide incentives such as free airline tickets, theme park tickets and distinct loyalty point programmes through a dedicated portal www.greennew.com. This provides a platform for residents and businesses to dispose off their end-of-life and endof-use electrical and electronic products. The platform also facilitates the exchange of end-of-use products and e-commerce channel for sale of refurbished products,” said Agarwala.
The company is gearing up to offer free collection of e-waste from homes and offices in the UAE and provide secured data destruction services unlike existing operators who charge for the same service.
“We will assign you a unique flow number and proceed to the bar code labelling. Thus, as soon as it is removed, traceability is guaranteed and the issuance of mandatory documents and certificate of destruction is facilitated,” added Agarwala.