EEG collects 5,267kg cans during campaign

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

As many as 2000 entities across emirates have participated in the “23rd can collection day” drive to collect a 5,267kg empty aluminum cans. The drive in its 23rd edition has motivated a number of supporters from big and small organisations across the UAE as well as schoolchildren to work together and support the environment friendly campaign.

The drive has been launched by Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) and brought together more than 200 entities from all the emirates to participate in the event. The combined effort of various hotels, families, academic institutions and corporations reeled in 5,267kg of Aluminium cans for recycling. EEG achieved 77.8% of the target and therefore urged all sectors of the society to achieve the set target of 20,000kgs till December.

Habiba Al Mar’ashi, Chairperson of Emirates Environmental Group greatly appreciated the fact that over the last 23 years, the Can Collection Campaign has seen a tremendous growth and participation from the people of the UAE.  Since its inception in 1997, EEG has managed to collect 328,674kg of Aluminium cans which has resulted in the mitigation of 4,933MTCO2e, saving of 7,978 m3 of landfill space and the conservation of 74,801 million BTU of energy.

EEG has always worked to educate and raise awareness of the community on conservation issues through active and action-oriented programmes. Besides Aluminium cans, EEG also facilitates the collection of Paper, Plastic, Glass Bottles, Toners and Mobile phones for recycling. By conducting such campaigns, EEG is constantly adding on to the aim of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Particularly Goal No.12 which calls on the importance of Sustainable Consumption and production. The campaign’s success was due to the collaboration and commitment of various government, corporate and academic institutions, once again highlighting EEG’s attempt to implement UN SDG No.17: Effective Partnerships for Sustainable Development.