Around 690 of DEWA’s employees recycled 656,315 plastic bottles and aluminium cans, equivalent to diverting 9.180 tonnes of waste from landfills.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) places great emphasis on environmental sustainability across all its projects and strives to raise awareness among its employees about the importance of adopting sustainable practices at home and in the workplace. This includes encouraging the recycling of plastic bottles and aluminium cans in line with the Dubai Integrated Waste Management Strategy 2021-2041, which promotes innovation in waste management and recycling, converting waste to energy, and providing practical solutions to environmental challenges.

Since the launch of the recycling of plastic bottles and aluminium cans initiative in October 2022 until the end of the first half of 2024, around 690 of DEWA’s employees recycled 656,315 plastic bottles and aluminium cans, equivalent to diverting 9.180 tonnes of waste from landfills. DEWA provides smart machines to recycle plastic bottles and aluminium cans in some of its buildings. These machines are operated using DEWA’s Smart Office app for employees. The machine reads the QR code on the smart app, and the employee receives points for each recycling operation, entering a raffle draw to win valuable monthly prizes. Until the end of June 2024, DEWA honoured 70 employees for their recycling efforts.

In line with its vision as a globally leading sustainable innovative corporation committed to achieving Net-Zero by 2050, DEWA organised 14 awareness activities for employees to highlight the importance of adopting sustainable practices. This includes enhancing the efficiency of electricity and water consumption, limiting waste, reducing plastic use, and reusing and recycling plastic bottles and aluminium cans.

Recently, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) commissioned a new water reservoir in Enkhali and connected it to Dubai’s water network. The reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 120 million imperial gallons (MIG), cost Dhs287.8 million.

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, said, “The 120 MIG reservoir in Enkhali and the other reservoirs in Lusaily, Hassyan, and Hatta support DEWA’s strategy to increase the efficiency and reliability of water networks, raise water flow and volume of water reserves to meet the growing demand and sustainable development of Dubai. When the reservoirs are completed, the storage capacity will reach 1121.3 MIG of desalinated water, compared to the current capacity of 1001.3 MIG.”