The new bottle return scheme is under the umbrella of EAD’s Mission to Zero campaign
The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi is aiming to reduce 20 million single-use plastic bottles every year by installing 70 Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) and 26 Smart Bins across Abu Dhabi.
The RVMs and smart bins will be located in busy areas such as the Corniche, Abu Dhabi Airport, sports venues, malls, and academic institutions.
The bottle return scheme sits under the EAD’s successful public campaign, Mission To Zero that aspires to zero plastic, zero waste, zero emissions and zero harm to biodiversity, launched last year as part of the Single-Use Plastic Policy.
Both the RVMs and smart bins were launched today, 12 July 2023, at Al Dar Square, hosted by Al Dar Group in the presence of HE Dr Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General and several EAD key stakeholders including ADNOC Distribution Company, Abu Dhabi Cooperative Society, Aldar, Carrefour, Choithrams, Dgrade Lulu, Nadeera, RECAPP BY VEOLIA and UAE Circular Packaging Association.
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Speaking at the event, HE Dr Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, said: “Over the years we have discovered the harm of single-use plastics on land and marine ecosystems, harming our species and taking hundreds of years to disintegrate.
“Therefore, we launched the Abu Dhabi Single-Use Plastic Policy in 2020 as the first integrated policy in the region.
“Today, as an extension of this policy we are deploying several incentive-based RVMs as well as Smart Bins that will be installed in strategic locations all across Abu Dhabi in collaboration with our strategic partners who have supported the implementation of the policy from the beginning.”
On World Environment Day this year, EAD announced a partnership with ADNOC Distribution to install RVMs in service stations, as well as a partnership with Veolia by RECAPP.
Recently, EAD revealed that more than 172 million single-use plastic grocery bags have been prevented from harming the environment after the ban on 1 June 2022.
Mission to Zero was composed of a very visually appealing outdoor campaign on buses, bridges and lamp posts and a series of public activations such as workshops, an intensive SMS campaign in four languages, and a heavy social media campaign.
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Image source EAD, Pixaby
