DUBAI // Malls have been given until the end of May to comply with official recycling regulations or face fines.
The move, which requires shopping centres to segregate recycleable plastic, paper, metals and glass, from non-recycleable items, is part of a plan that aims to ensure as much as 75 per cent of Dubai’s waste is recycled by 2018. It is one of the first steps in the strategy which will also see the creation of a new unit to process food waste in the emirate.
The recycling guidelines for malls were first announced in 2012 with all malls expected to comply by the end of last year. The guideline says that malls should install at least two separate colour-coded bins per location to ensure waste is segregated.
About a third of shopping centres are still facing difficulties complying with the scheme, said Abdulmajeed Saifaie, director of the waste management department of Dubai Municipality.
“We have sent out a letter to all malls, thanking the ones who are already doing this,” he said. “For the others – we have given them until the end of May. After that we will issue fines for the malls that do not put out separate bins.”
Recycling companies have said that while initiative has helped drive some business for them, it is still difficult to tell whether the new recycling bins are helping increase volumes besides the ones already there to recycle packaging waste at the back of the malls.
“I will know the difference if I see an increase in the number of plastic bottles and metal cans, which would clearly come from inside the mall,” said Huzaifa Rangwala, manager, marketing and contracts at Union Paper Mills, which services several large malls.
The increase so far is “not appreciable”, he said.
Mr Rangwala also said that because of cost concerns, some malls are not putting out sufficient numbers of recycling bins.
Another issue is awareness, even if recycling infrastructure is available, if customers do not observe the distinctions and mix the waste, it is not possible to recycle it afterwards, he said.
“People have to be educated,” he said.
Jeroen Vincent, chief operating officer of waste management company, Averda, agreed.
“It is not only about providing a separate box or a bin but a whole communication of how important it is to recycle,” he said.
Both Mr Vincent and Mr Rangwala said food courts are among the largest generators of waste within malls and should participate in the recycling effort. This is now the case in some malls but not others.
Failing to separate organic waste from plastic plates, beverage cans and other items makes recycling them “almost impossible” due to the contamination, said Mr Vincent. Mr Rangwala said one way to separate waste in food courts will be to train cleaning staff and offer them incentives.
Mr Saifaie said Dubai Municipality will be paying more attention what happens to organic waste in the near future as a plant to process it into useful fertiliser is currently being planned for the city.
“Step one was to recycle the general waste,” he said. “Step two should be the organic waste, it should be separated.”
Within a year and half, Dubai should have a plant to process the organic waste, he said, explaining that a tender to select the private company to build and operate the facility is already under way. The plant is initially expected to be able to handle 500 tonnes of organic waste per day with provisions to double the capacity in the future, said Mr Saifaie.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
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.
Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sam Smith
Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
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