UAE Statistics
Did you know…
UAE per capita waste production, which stands at 3.4 to 3.8 kg per day, is one of
the highest in the world with 52% of the waste being food leftovers, 16% paper products,
14% is plastic, 7% is glass and the remainder tins, cloths and other products.
Office Paper
Did you know...
• The average office worker generates about 165 kg of waste each
year.
• 80% of that waste is recyclable paper products.
• Recycled office paper can become new office paper.
Cardboard
Did you know...
• Cardboard boxes can contain up to 100% recycled fibres.
• On average, the recycled content of a cardboard box is about
59%.
Newspaper
Did you know...
• Recycling newspapers and magazines reduces the need for mining
clay soils, which is used to make newsprint pulp.
• Old newsprint is made into new newsprint (so the newspaper you're
reading now may be the same newspaper you read two months ago!).
Plastics
Did you know...
• Plastics take about 400 years to break down in a landfill.
• Collected plastic bottles can be made into carpeting and fibrefill
for pillows, sleeping bags and other forms of clothing, but can also be made into
t-shirts and fleeces, automotive parts, and floor tiles!
• Most plastic containers have a code on the bottom that tells
you what type of plastic it is.
Glass
Did you know...
• It takes one million years for a glass bottle to break down
in a landfill.
• Recycled glass is used to create new bottles and jars, fiberglass,
and is used as aggregate material in roads and sidewalks.
Aluminum
Did you know...
• Recycling one aluminum container can save enough energy to run
a television for 3 hours.
• Aluminum takes 500 years to break down in a landfill.
• Aluminum is the most valuable recyclable material. When re-melted,
aluminum containers can be used in any product made from aluminum.
• The lifespan of an aluminum can is about 6 weeks: that means
that the time it takes for a beverage can to be manufactured, filled, sold, recycled,
remanufactured and refilled is about 6 weeks.
Steel (Tin) Cans
Did you know...
• When recovered steel is used instead of iron ore to make new
steel, water consumption is reduced by about 50%.
• It would take about 100 years for a steel can to break down
through natural processes.
Did you know...
• Reducing your consumption can reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Reducing 500 tonnes of paper is equivalent to taking 340 cars
off the road per year
• Reducing 500 tonnes of aluminum is equivalent to taking 1050
cars off the road per year
• Reducing 500 tonnes of glass is equivalent to taking 58 cars
off the road per year
• Reducing 500 tonnes of plastic is equivalent to taking 205 cars
off the road per year
• Reducing 500 tonnes of cardboard is equivalent to taking 215
cars off the road per year
Facts about climate change
Methane Gas
• Landfill sites account for a large percentage of methane emissions.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a high global warming potential. Methane
is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
• Climate Change is the variation in the Earth’s climate over
time, which can be from both natural and human-induced changes. Human activities
alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the increase of greenhouse
gases.
• Greenhouse gases trap heat and reflect it back to the earth’s
surfaces. The result is changes in our climate, including a rise in global temperature
and more frequent extreme weather events.