Emirates Global Aluminium, the biggest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has partnered with social enterprise Nadeera to launch an innovative recycling solution in communities near EGA’s plant in Jebel Ali
Yalla Return, developed by Nadeera, is an innovative platform to promote effective recycling by consumers. The programme uses technology as a community engagement tool to encourage and incentivise recycling through a mobile application that is linked to technology-enabled waste collection bins. The programme will now be rolled out to some 4,000 households near Jebel Ali site.
Recycling aluminium takes 95 per cent less energy than making new metal, generating a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, EGA announced the start of construction of the UAE’s largest aluminium recycling plant.
EGA spearheaded the development of an Aluminium Recycling Coalition with beverage can-makers, beverage producers and waste management companies to improve the recycling rate of aluminium cans in the UAE. Some 660 million beverage cans are consumed in the UAE each year, and only around a third are currently recycled.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of Emirates Global Aluminium, commented, “Aluminium is an essential material for human progress, and too much is still thrown away including in communities that live right next to EGA’s plants. Nadeera will help us create more awareness on the importance of recycling among our neighbours, and I am pleased that this partnership means we are extending our cooperation with them.”
Nadeera was a finalist in the first season of EGA Ramp-up, the company’s corporate social responsibility programme to support entrepreneurship as a further contribution to UAE economic growth.
EGA supports communities near its operations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi through corporate social responsibility programmes, including sports tournaments, community clean-up drives and recruitment campaigns. EGA operates a hotline for members of neighbouring communities to contact the company with any comments or concerns.
