Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

For the last few weeks, I have been on a 'recycling and reusing wastes' spree. Our small store room was cluttered with cartons and other items we had stored during our move from Muscat to Dubai. I was thinking of ways to dispose them off, but then I thought, it is better to reuse and recycle them rather than accumulating heaps of waste that would harm the environment. I had a hoard of plastic bottles and containers, cartons, papers and cardboards. I didn't know what to do with them. I began to search the web for ideas to make them useful. I used the cartons to make toy storage boxes for my child. I separated the papers into categories such as magazines, newspapers, office papers and cardboards. Accordingly I would use them for different purposes. I planned to use newspapers for paper mache, magazines for different decoupage and collages, cardboards for craft etc. I would reuse the plastic bottles as organisers or for storage containers and I sorted them out based on their size and types. 

As we talk about recycling the waste from my house, the 3 'R's of the environment needs to be introduced or perhaps reintroduced to many of us:

• Reduce means reduce the amount of waste produced. For example buy products with less packaging. Read news online instead of buying newspapers since most of the news is available online.
• Reuse products as many times as possible. Reuse shoe boxes, milk containers, cans etc. for craft or storage.
• Recycle means creating new products out of materials from the old ones. Things like paper, aluminum can,  plastic grocery bags, etc. can be recycled so drop them off into designated bins by the municipality so that they can be recycled.

As per a report, UAE ranked third in the world with the biggest ecological footprint per capita in the world. Each member of the population generates about 2.5kg of rubbish each day. Most of the waste ends up in the landfill. 

I searched on the net for initiatives taken by the UAE for recycling waste and discovered that although recycling waste seems to be a new concept in the UAE, it already has a recycling program in place. For more details, you can visit their site. I have often spotted bins outside many villas, wherein two wheeled-bins  have been placed. Green bins for recyclables example: paper, plastics and cans, and black bins for non-recyclables like food wastes. This is part of the initiative undertaken by the Dubai Municipality so as to recycle three-quarters of Dubai's refuse by 2018.

A good initiative for separating and sorting the waste can be witnessed at the fuel stations in Dubai. There are four bins installed and labelled as general waste, cans, plastic and paper waste, which helps in segregating the waste at this point itself so that they can be processed further without any hassle. 

Separate bins for general waste, cans, plastic and paper waste

Finally, I ended up looking at the repository of pictures in my laptop and found these pictures wherein some waste-to-best efforts were taken by the Municipality of Muscat in 2014 at the festival venue in Amerat Park. They made an excellent effort to make the best use of the waste generated, making used of used plastic bottles, CDs, used tyres, wire scrap and more.

Recycling ideas from Muscat Festival 2014 - an initiative by the Muscat Municipality

Plastic bottles turned into flower-pots

Plastic bottles assembled into flower pots

Screen made from plastic bottles

An animal replica made from iron scrap

A hanging holder for flower pots made from old tyres

Recycling used CDs into a flower decoration

An old tyre converted into a pot holder

A tree ensemble created from plastic bottle twirls

Do share what initiative does your city take to recycle the waste generated. Do leave your comments and ideas below my post. Awareness regarding recycling of waste is a must for every citizen. Every individual plays a small but an important role in reducing the carbon footprints on this earth and to make this earth a better place to live for the coming generations.