How do I recycle in Dubai?
Last week, I visited the new La Mer development in Jumeirah. Have you been? It’s very cool, and has a lovely beachside area to relax at for free. Better yet, they have recycling bins – something that is often missing in Dubai. It is great to see a new development making sure that people are able to recycle, and to minimise waste consumption.
However, there are lots of places in Dubai that don’t have recycling facilities. My building is one of them! According to a recent Dubai Carbon report, the average UAE resident generates about 2.7 kilograms of waste every day, with the average European producing just 1.2kg of waste per day. For this reason, I’ve done a little bit of research on where you can recycle your items in Dubai.
PUBLIC RECYCLING BINS
These are the locations of somepublic recycling bins, and what you can put in them. Do you know of any more? Please let me know, so I can add these to the list!
| Recycling Points | Location | Recycle What? |
| The Village Shops | The Greens | Paper, glass, plastic, cans |
| Meadows Village | The Springs, Emirates Hills | Paper, plastic, cans |
| Dubai Festival City | Near Toys R Us | Paper, plastic, cans |
| Oasis Centre Mall | Al Quoz 1 | Paper, plastic |
| Dubai Marina | Promenade, various locations | Paper, plastic, glass |
| Dubai Studio City | next to Dubai Studio City Tower | Paper, plastic, glass |
| Emirates Driving Institute | Al Qusais | Paper, plastic |
| Emirates Aviation College | Garhoud | Paper, plastic |
| NBAD Branches | Various locations | E-waste |
| EEG Office | Beach Road | Paper, plastic, cans, e-waste, batteries, glass, printer cartridges & toner |
| Behind Town Centre | Beach Road | Paper, plastic, cans |
| Spinneys | Umm Suqeim, Ramada, Trade Centre Road | Paper, plastic, cans |
| Gold & Diamond Park | SZR near Mall of the Emirates | E-waste |
| Lakes Club | Emirates Hills 3 | Paper, plastic, cans |
| Springs Town | The Springs, Emirates Hills | Paper, plastic, cans |
| The Beach | The Walk, JBR | Paper, plastic |
| Near Citymax Hotel | Al Barsha | Paper, plastic |
| Silicon Oasis | Spinneys, various locations in community | Paper, plastic, glass, cans, clothing |
| Jumeirah Lake Towers | JLT Clusters | Paper, plastic, glass, cans |
| Arabian Ranches Retail Centre | Near the post box | Paper, plastic, glass, cans, clothing |
| Dubai Municipality Centres | Various locations | E-waste |
| Emirates Post Offices | Various locations | E-waste |
| Bur Dubai | Behind Citibank, near Burjuman metro station | Paper, plastic, cans |
MY CITY, MY ENVIRONMENT RECYCLING PROGRAMME
As part of the municipality’s My City, My Environment recycling programme, door-to-door collection does exist in some parts of Dubai. If you live in Safa 1, Safa 2, and Jumeirah 1, 2 and 3, you will have been supplied two 240 litre colour coded bins, each with a different waste disposal purpose. Dulsco runs this service.
PAID COLLECTION SERVICES
If you live outside of these areas, you can sign up for Green Truck Recycling. Green Truck Recycling offer a private collection service that’ll pick up a bin of your materials every week. You can leave out paper, plastic, glass, metal, can and used and broken electronics. While it does cost 100AED a month, it is a small price to pay to help out the environment!
RAGS TO RICHES DUBAI
Maybe you have old toys or clothes that you no longer use, but are still in very good condition. Instead of throwing these away, you can donate them to Rags To Riches Dubai – an organisation that will redistribute the items to children in need around the world. Visit their Facebook Group for more information!
Do you know any other ways to recycle in the UAE? Let me know!