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Thursday, May 15, 2014

Mr. Green Bin takes over Dubai


The new bins outside my villa
This Thursday morning sees the launch of the latest “My City… My Environment” campaign by the waste management department at Dubai Municipality.

Everyone must have noticed the two plastic bins, one green and one black, in front of all the villas, whether residential or commercial, in Jumeirah 1, 2, 3; Al Safa 1, 2; Umm Suqueim 1, 2, 3; Al Manara, Umm Al Sheif and Al Barsha 2, 3 areas.

Over the past two weeks, the “Mr. Green Bin,” leaflets were widely circulated, informing us that starting May 15, SITA Trashco will be distributing the bins.

Dubai Municipality’s campaign aims to focus on the collection and segregation of waste at source to reduce waste to landfill.

Hussein Nasser Lootah told Emirates 24/7 and most media outlets the campaign “aims at introducing the best practices for cleanliness and making Dubai a greener city. It also emphasizes Dubai Municipality’s continuous efforts on high quality services to keep the city clean.”

“This door-to-door waste collection and recycling service for all the residents is a unique initiative that will educate the public and allow them to help Dubai Municipality in recycling the household waste in an efficient manner,” he added.

The leaflet
Dubai Municipality has chosen Dulsco, Averda and Trashco as its strategic partners for this “My City… My Environment” initiative.

The two green and black 240-liter bins have clear instructions to help residents separate the waste.


The black bins will be collected every day and the green ones three days a week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The leaflet clearly indicates what should go in each bin.

The green bins are for recyclables such as plastic containers, cardboard boxes (flattened out), newspapers, magazines, books, papers, empty water glass and plastic bottles, aluminum and metal cans as well as milk and juice bottles and cartons.

The black bins are for all other types of general waste such as leftover food, vegetable and fruit skins, meat, dairy products, fish waste, food contaminated boxes, disposable cups, trays, containers, paper towels, napkins, eggshells, nutshells, waste generated while sweeping etc…

Unfortunately, along with this project, our friendly municipality street cleaner will no longer operate in the 12 areas designated for the door-to-door collection and recycling campaign.

The street cleaner in my area had become a friend over the past eight years and came to my rescue a couple of months ago while I was walking the dog with my late friend. I will always be thankful to him for that.

Cleaners from private companies Dulsco, Averda and Trashco will now take over the complete waste management tasks from workers of Dubai Municipality which is privatizing street cleaning services for the first time in the emirate.

The municipality will also discontinue the use of large waste skips on the roads in these areas.


Now it remains to be seen if and how residents and businesses respond to the campaign and how the private companies will maintain cleanliness on our streets and the regular collection of the bins.