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.
