Dubai: the world's busiest airport to start phasing out single-use plastic in January


Hayley Skirka
  • English
  • Arabic

The world’s busiest airport is going plastic free. Dubai International Airport will eliminate all single-use plastics from January 2020. Dubai World Central Airport will also eliminate single-use plastics.

Between them, the airports will eliminate 5,500 tonnes of single-use plastic every year.

The news comes after Dubai Airports, the company that manages both Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central, made a pledge in June to ban single-use plastic items.

Items such as cutlery, straws and shopping bags will be ditched from consumer spaces from the start of next year.

More than 90 million passengers travel via Dubai’s two airports every year, using tens of thousands of plastic items every day. The plastic ban will be completed by the end of next year.

More than 90 million passengers travel via Dubai’s two airports every year. Supplied
More than 90 million passengers travel via Dubai’s two airports every year. Supplied

Outlets at the airports are signing up to go plastic free, with McDonald’s set to replace 5,608,740 items with recyclable materials. Costa is introducing a new fully sustainable coffee cup at its airport outlets and 95 per cent of the airport's commercial partners have already pledged to ditch single use plastics.

More than half of air travellers say they carry a reusable water bottle according to research commissioned by Dubai Airports. Another 49 per cent of passengers surveyed said they will choose to eat in airport restaurants that avoid plastic packaging.

Changes already in action

Sustainable changes are already underway at Dubai Airports, with around 11,000 plastic bottles being recycled from security checkpoints on a daily basis.

Unlike many other airports, neither Dubai International Airport or Dubai World Central provides passengers with plastic bags for carrying liquids through security. When it comes to sealable bags for duty-free shopping, the bags that are already in use will continue to be used as they have been deemed environmentally friendly.

"The Security Tamper-evident Bags (STEBs) used at duty free for passengers to securely carry liquids, aerosols and gels are approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and are made from biodegradable plastic," a spokesperson from Dubai Airports told The National.

So far this year, Dubai Airports recycled around 280 tonnes of single-use plastic.

The move is part of the aviation industry's efforts to become more environmentally responsible. Dubai will join other airports prioritising sustainability, such as San Francisco, Mumbai and New Delhi, which have also banned single-use plastics.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Schedule:

Friday, January 12: Six fourball matches
Saturday, January 13: Six foursome (alternate shot) matches
Sunday, January 14: 12 singles

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Results

2-15pm: Commercial Bank Of Dubai – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Al Habash, Patrick Cosgrave (jockey), Bhupat Seemar (trainer)

2.45pm: Al Shafar Investment – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Day Approach, Ray Dawson, Ahmad bin Harmash

3.15pm: Dubai Real estate Centre – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Celtic Prince, Richard Mullen, Rashed Bouresly

3.45pm: Jebel Ali Sprint by ARM Holding – Listed (TB) Dh500,000 (D) 1,000m; Winner: Khuzaam, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson

4.15pm: Shadwell – Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Tenbury Wells, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer

4.45pm: Jebel Ali Stakes by ARM Holding – Listed (TB) Dh500,000 (D) 1,950m; Winner: Lost Eden, Andrea Atzeni, Doug Watson

5.15pm: Jebel Ali Racecourse – Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,950m; Winner: Rougher, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson

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THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah 

Starring: Alaa Meqdad

Rating: 4/5

%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ETHE%20SPECS%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EEngine%3A%203.5-litre%20V6%0D%3Cbr%3ETransmission%3A%209-speed%20automatc%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20279hp%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20350Nm%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh250%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

MATCH INFO

Aston Villa 1 (Konsa 63')

Sheffield United 0

Red card: Jon Egan (Sheffield United)

 

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Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier

Sunday's results:

  • UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
  • Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
  • Oman v Hong Kong, no result

Tuesday fixtures:

  • Malaysia v Singapore
  • UAE v Oman
  • Nepal v Hong Kong
Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE