Abu Dhabi University will lecture on recycling

Abu Dhabi University will invite environmental groups to lecture students about recycling and sustainable living at its Khalifa City campus.

The institution also announced it is working on plans to lead by example on the issue, said Dr Nabil Ibrahim, the university chancellor.

"Our objective with this is to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly campus, with the appropriate recycling equipment that all members of the university will be encouraged to utilise fully," said Dr Ibrahim. "Colleges and universities across the nation must make important and decisive contributions to help the environment."

With an average of 2.5 kilogrammes of household waste per day, Abu Dhabi is among the top waste generators in the world. The same trend is evident across the rest of the country.

A study released in May this year found that the UAE generated 22 per cent of the 22.2 million tonnes produced in Gulf countries last year, coming in second only to Saudi Arabia. A large portion of that waste consists of organic material that can be composted, as well as plastic, glass, metal and paper, which can be recycled. The UAE, however, still has no large-scale municipal recycling schemes.

Some private residential communities and shopping malls run recycling centres in Dubai. The Center for Waste Management-Abu Dhabi last year started a recycling scheme in 3,000 private homes, but the emirate lacks its own facility to process what is collected.

vtodorova@thenational.ae