In line with the UAE’s Green Economy Vision as well as company-wide sustainability efforts, du organised its first Waste Management Forum, which took place at du headquarters in Dubai Media City. Government Entities, HSE practitioners, NGO’s and other key stakeholders were invited to come together and discuss the current waste management strategies and best practices to promote more environmentally friendly solutions for the region.
“At du, we take our environmental efforts very seriously, and we encourage projects like this that help us consistently improve our approaches to handling pressing issues regarding environmental sustainability. We strive to continually improve our sustainable operations and we believe it is extremely relevant to address the issue of e-waste, not just as an individual entity but with the collaboration of our business partners and relevant stakeholders” said Abdulhadi Alalyak, Senior Vice President Corporate Services at du.
“Environmental sustainability is a large-scale effort, and we encourage businesses across the UAE to examine their current waste management strategies to create more innovative and environmentally friendly solutions for the good of the region as a whole and in line with the UAE’s Green Economy Vision,” continued Alalyak.
The UAE has one of the highest per capita rates of waste generation in the world, and according to the Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management Department, each resident in Dubai contributes to 1,000kgs of waste per year. To combat these figures and help mitigate the problem, du’s Waste Management Forum focused creating awareness and future collaborations around challenges, and solutions to waste management in the UAE.
The Waste Management Forum included an open session in which all waste vendors, NGOs, and key stakeholders in the telecommunications industry that produce electronic waste were invited to create awareness and formulate solutions to support the waste management strategy of the UAE. Discussion points included challenges faced by cities and governments due to improper and unsegregated waste and e-waste dumping at landfills; the impact of unsegregated and e-waste dumping on the environment, especially locally; the measures the government, NGOs, and waste recycling companies are taking to improve the situation; and the role of organisations and stakeholders in supporting the government’s commitment to proper waste management.
In addition to du’s endeavour to promote better waste management and in line with its sustainability strategy, du has almost reached over 10,000 volunteering hours, which included its efforts in its annual Mawaed Al Rahman Ramadan initiative. Furthermore, du has continued to reduce its carbon footprint by expanding the network’s reliance on hybrid power sources. This has resulted in reduced CO2 emissions from mobile network base stations, the adoption of e-billing to reduce paper consumption and the recycling of office waste to reduce the eco-footprint.