27 February 2020, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: From schoolchildren to corporate community and the hospitality sector in particular lined up on Thursday morning to take part in the 24th cycle of the Can Collection Day, an annual national event held by Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), the first-of-it-kind environmental NGO in the UAE.

The Can Collection Day 2020 is sponsored by Emirates Global Aluminium and supported by Dubai Municipality, Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai Tourism and American International School Abu Dhabi. The campaign also received logistical support from Abela & Co, Tristar, Lucky Group & Al Futtaim Construction. Gulf News continued its strong support to the Can Collection Campaign by coming on board as the Media Partner.
 

Around 5,235 kg of Aluminium Cans were collected in a single day as part of the 2020 cycle of Can Collection Day held on February 27 at designated collection points across the country.  The annual activity has brought people from all walks of life together, entities in the UAE from both private and public sector, to join hands with EEG to prevent used Aluminium Cans from going to landfill, which leads to environment damages and carbon emission.

The annual activity is one of the measures EEG has adopted to support UAE’s strive to achieve 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its set target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 11,12,13 & 17. 

Today’s collection of 5,235 kg of Aluminium cans resulted in the mitigation of 78.5 MTCO2 emissions, saving 127 cubic metres of landfill, and 1,191 million BTU of energy. This brings the total collection to 6,943 kg, which is 38.5 % of Aluminium Cans to be collected this year as per the target.

The motto for this year is: Don’t throw it away. Recycle it for Another Day. 

“I am so happy to see the community heeding to the call of environmental conservation by rolling up their sleeves and coming on board this action oriented activity to collect Aluminium cans and ensuring that it gets recycled. This nation-wide campaign fits very well with the national strategy of promoting the concept of circular economy and aligns with several of the 17 UN SDGs,” said Habiba Al Mar’ashi, Chairperson of EEG.