Tribe, for a few years, I have been recycling by storing recyclables at home. But was struggling to take recyclables to the recycling centers on a regular basis. Read a complete list of centers for recycling in UAE. The unwanted things which are in good condition, we prefer to donate to charities (List of charities in UAE for a donation of unwanted items).
Even if we are discussing recycling in this article, we need to remember the first step in sustainable living is always reduce. Here are some useful tips on how can you beat plastic pollution with some simple lifestyle changes.
Honestly, we all know, why we need to recycle. The recyclable items in our waste, which people generally throw in the garbage and increase the amount of waste in landfills. When landfill increases, the resources invested in the now wasted item also gets wasted. Learn more about UAE specific waste facts to understand how big is the waste problem.
The recycled items are mostly used as raw material for the production of useful items. This way we also reuse the resources and decrease some of the burdens on our ecosystem.
We all know paper, glass, aluminum, plastics are few such recyclables in our everyday waste. But driving to someplace far just to drop off recyclables can be added hassle to busy UAE residents and sometimes can demotivated people from recycling.
I was always looking for a solution, where instead of me taking recyclables to the centers, the recycling station would come to me and saves me this special trip and hassle of taking recyclables to center. This is exactly what I found through Homecycle.
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| Recyclables @my home |
There are companies in UAE who offer to pick up recyclables from office premises like Union paper mill (paper), Dubai (aluminum), etc. They also provide pick up service for recyclable waste, but for large quantities, for offices and industries, etc, not for households.
Recently I have found an amazing solution for household recycling. An organization based in the UAE started a notable service called Homecycle. Through this service, they pick up recyclable materials from an individual household. They also provide us points against our recyclables, which can further be redeemed for shopping or donation to charity. This service is free to use, we just need to open a free account on their website. And the best part is all these recyclable materials they pick up from our household are actually getting recycled. Mr. John, who is behind Keep it clean explained to me about almost how every item is recycled. Roughly after picking up recyclables from our place they segregate it in their yard. After segregation, they send items to either manufacturing companies to use it as raw material during production in UAE and India or they send items to the recycling facility in Sajja to process the items to use them for reproduction.
Here are brief details of Homecycle service:
Recyclable items include (there is the minimum number required for picking up)- Plastic bags, pens, glass containers, aerosols, aluminum cans, mobile phones, household batteries, cloth hangers, carton drink packaging, shower gel bottles, ink cartridges, etc.
Points redeemable via Vouchers Donations to charities: EWS WWF, Plant a Ghaf, Emirates diving associations, etc
This is one convenient and reliable recycling service, which UAE residents were very much in need of. Last month I collected recyclable items throughout the month mainly glass containers (30 nos) and aluminum cans (30 nos). I requested a pickup through my account on their website. Their person came the next day to pick up. I received 5 points; 2 for glass and 3 for cans. After reaching certain points (around 200) I would be able to redeem. I want to donate my points to EWS WWF, as I did volunteering work with them in the past and it is definitely my favorite charity.
I would recommend before you start using Homecycle service, read first our tips on how to recycle correctly. Because if you don’t follow the correct techniques, your recyclables might not get actually recycled.
Also, let me tell you, recycling is the first important step towards, zero waste lifestyle. Have a look at our #ZeroWasteUAE initiative
Don’t forget to join our tribe and keep Recycling!
4 Comments
Great article!
Thank you Sam!
Recently Homecycle (my experience dates back to 2017) limited the recycling collection to customers of MonViso only. They promised they would resume to all other external clients but this never happened. Very bitter experience after I have managed to collect numerous alu cans, plastic, glass,metal hangers, I ended up disposing these away at a very slow step. No use to register in their website, it’s all a waste of time.
Thank you Denista for sharing your experience. I haven’t used their service after they re-started their business, I think last year; so can’t really comment about it. But I would say, don’t get discouraged just because you have had an unpleasant experience with one organization. Look for a nearby recycling station where you can drop your weekly or monthly recyclables. We have a list of recycling stations on Sustainability Tribe. You could also look into our #ZeroWasteUAE initiative and try to reduce the waste, which in the long run will reduce the need for recycling by some extent. Happy recycling!
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