Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), UAE’s first non-governmental professional working group focused on environmental action, joins the worldwide celebrations of the Global Recycling Day by launching a unique one-month project, “Green Call”.

Today (March 18) marks the first ever Global Recycling Day, a meaningful occasion with a mission of driving awareness and action around the urgent need to recycle.

The world knows six major natural resources: water, air, coal, oil, natural gas and minerals. However, it is safe to say that recyclables have joined them as the world’s Seventh Resource, said a statement.

The recycling industry is at the heart of change needed to minimise the pressure on our precious natural resources and to overcome the major issue of climate change, it said.

The project aims to recycle mobile phones and tablets in the most effective way to build an environmentally conscious society by involving the youth and community of the UAE, it said.

The participants of the project are required to deposit their old mobile phones and tablets for recycling, it added.

“It is important to raise awareness on the unsafe exposure of heavy metals and to ensure the proper recycling and disposal of ewaste” said Habiba Al Mar’ashi, EEG chairperson on the launch of this year’s campaign.

Targeting the student community, the project first came into existence in 2016. However due to the ever growing popularity of the project and the Year of Zayed celebrations across the country, EEG announced that from 2018 onwards, the project will be open to all sectors of the society, said a statement.

To keep up with the rapid pace of advancement in cellular technology, as predicted by the Moore’s law, mobile phones and tablets are constantly upgraded and discarded. With the onset of concepts, such as “urban mining”, the old electronic devices can be dismantled and their resources extracted and reused in the industry.

E-waste recycling promotes the concept of circular economy and minimises the toll on the environment. Therefore, there is a significant economic and environmental incentive for such recycling initiatives, both locally and internationally. 

The participants of EEG’s project “Green Call”, who demonstrate commitment towards achieving the set targets within the one-month time period will be eligible to plant a tree sapling under their name on the December 18, 2018.

They will also receive a certificate of participation upon completion. Throughout the one-month period, EEG will organise collections of mobile phones in all of the seven Emirates and will welcome all sectors of society to drop off their mobile phones for recycling at its office in Jumeirah 1, Dubai, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service