Dubai Municipality exchanges vouchers for recyclables

Union Coop and Play Area vouchers distributed at Safa Park for recycling plastic and cans

Dubai Municipality launched a drive to encourage visitors to the Emirate’s [Safa] park to exchange their  recyclable left outs on Friday, 19th December, as part of the large-scale re-launch of the Municipality’s recycling awareness campaign: ‘My City… My Environment’.
Under this initiative – called Exchange and Win – Union Coop and Play Area vouchers were offered to anyone who collected recyclable left outs and exchanged them at a collection point on their way out of the park. Two environmental specialists from Dubai Municipality oversaw the event, which lasted from 1pm-6pm on the day, roaming the park, raising awareness about the campaign and distributing separate collection bags for plastic and cans. At one of the exit gates, recyclables were exchanged for the vouchers. A total volume of over 700 recyclables were collected.

Eng. Salah Amiri, Asst. Director General for Environmental & Public Health Services Sector said; “It is vital that we engrain a culture of recycling among each and every person in Dubai, to ensure our city is the cleanest and most environmentally responsible in the region and a model for others to emulate. Campaigns such as Exchange and Win reach out to the public and emphasise the importance of personal responsibility in achieving our environmental goals. While earning vouchers, visitors to Safa Park had the opportunity to speak to our promoters and learn about the importance of our mission, as well as the best practices to follow when it comes to recycling collection and segregation”.

The re-launch of the ‘My City… My Environment’ recycling awareness campaign aims to build upon the success of the original  initiative earlier this year, aiming to drastically reduce waste by focusing on the collection and segregation of recyclable waste at source, it encompasses a powerful and multifaceted marketing campaign, centred around public relations, a media burst, a road show at selected malls and Union Coops, social media activation, family friendly events with competitions, live entertainment, and awareness sessions.

Dubai Municipality is widely regarded as one of the largest governmental institutions, in terms of the services that it renders and the projects that it implements. It is consequently a leading driver of growth and evolution of the Emirate of Dubai. The Municipality works tirelessly to keep the city green, sparing no effort to educate the community– with the goal of ultimately ensuring pollution-free, liveable and safe environments. Recent rapid economic growth in Dubai has reaffirmed the need for Dubai Municipality to re-launch its environmental campaign, in response to the key recycling challenges facing Dubai residents. The campaign will strive to improve the standard of living in the Emirate and take every measure to encourage residents to become an active part of the city’s green vision, to help effectively manage Dubai’s continued growth while ensuring environmental sustainability remains a central priority.