EEG's unique drive leads to collection of over 5,000kg aluminium in UAE

The Emirates Environment Group organized a can collection drive on Saturday, October 10. The event saw collection of innumerable empty aluminium cans of aerated drinks and processed food products, which amounted to nearly 5,008kg of aluminium. A spokesperson from Emirates Environment Group reminded, about 75 cans make a kilo! So, the collection figures say it all about the success of the event.

This brings the total of EEG's collection for 2015 to 19,521kg till date, 72 per cent of the target, with the announcement that the organisation should reach the targeted 27,000kg of aluminium cans by the end of 2015.

Habiba Al Marashi, Chairperson of Emirates Environmental Group, said the collection drive aims to bring people from all sectors of society together, united by the need to fulfil their duties to the environment of this country as "the planet is our home and we have an obligation to make it a clean and healthy one for all its inhabitants".

The participation of government entities, hotels, corporate companies, academic Marashi expressed her satisfaction in the continuity over the last 17 years of this campaign and its role as encouragement for sustainable waste management practices year after year. The volume of aluminium cans collected through this specific campaign since its inception is 244,687kg and has prevented unnecessary disposal of these valuable recyclables at landfills, in turn saving 5927m3 of landfill space and mitigating 5733 MTCO2 emissions.

The event saw the addition of a new location in Dubai at Al Mamzar Beach Park as well as at Zaabeel Park and Al Barsha Park, which have been used in previous events. The opening of this site proved to be successful as a number of the participants were from surrounding areas of the location.

Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation supported the event by collecting the accumulated aluminium cans from participants in the Emirate of Fujairah so that EEG was able to collect the materials before the event. The EEG team was ably assisted with managing each of the sites by dedicated volunteers from McDonalds UAE, Al Futtaim Carillion, Abela & Co, Emirates Global Aluminum and Sharjah Radisson Blu Resort who attended a series of update meetings in the build up to the event.