A scheme in which pupils at 10 schools in Al Ain are recycling as many as 50,000 plastic water bottles every month could be rolled out nationwide next year.
The pilot scheme, in which pupils use a machine to shrink the bottles to a tenth of their original size, could eventually cover one in every four schools, said Fasahat Beg, the general manager of Al Ain Mineral Water Company, which launched the project with Horizon Technologies, a Fujairah-based recycling facility.
Plastic bottles are relatively easy to recycle, but in the absence of municipal recycling schemes in most of the UAE, they are buried in landfills. Plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose.
The bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET. A leading consumer of bottled water, the UAE uses around 80,000 tonnes of the material every year, said Rajnish Sinha, the general manager of Horizon Technologies. One tonne of PET is enough to manufacture 40,000 bottles, he said.
"We are talking about billions of bottles," said Mr Beg.
With a market share of 24 per cent, the Al Ain Mineral Water Company is not shy to admit to its impact. It produces 13 million units - bottles of different sizes and the caps to seal them.
"PET recycling is an issue in this country and we are a leading producer of PET bottles in this market," said Mr Beg, explaining why the company chose to launch the scheme.
Currently, the bottled water producer's role is to ensure the plastics are gathered by schools and then transported to a Fujairah-based processing facility. At a later stage, however, Mr Beg and his team will be keen to review how recycled plastic can be utilised in the company's products.
But before a nationwide scheme is unveiled, the company must have a clear idea of how many bottles can be recycled per month and what are the logistical requirements of the operation as it grows in scale.
The pilot scheme in Al Ain is to provide the answers. Ten schools in the city joined the campaign over September and October last year. The results have so far been very encouraging, said Mr Beg.
"The children are shrinking between 40,000 and 50,000 bottles per month," he said. "The kids are fantastic ambassadors for recycling."
Part of the interest generated is having to do with a specialised device used to shrink the used bottles to only a fraction of their original size. Invented in Hungary, where 600 schools are involved in a similar project, the device has generated interest among children and among visitors at the Al Ain Aerobatics Show. Horizon Technologies has a set up a stand promoting the devices.
"The device was developed by a Hungarian inventor and we secured the distribution rights for the UAE," said Mr Beg.
The device uses heat to shrink a bottle to ten per cent of its size. The labels and caps are removed and reusable plastic is produced.
"It is a reverse form of the process we use to produce a bottle," he said.
Horizon Technologies is planning on extending the scheme to schools in Fujairah soon.
"Our plan is to process almost all of the bottles produced in the country," said Mr Sinha.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
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Eyasses squad
Charlie Preston (captain) – goal shooter/ goalkeeper (Dubai College)
Arushi Holt (vice-captain) – wing defence / centre (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Olivia Petricola (vice-captain) – centre / wing attack (Dubai English Speaking College)
Isabel Affley – goalkeeper / goal defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Jemma Eley – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Alana Farrell-Morton – centre / wing / defence / wing attack (Nord Anglia International School)
Molly Fuller – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Caitlin Gowdy – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Noorulain Hussain – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai College)
Zahra Hussain-Gillani – goal defence / goalkeeper (British School Al Khubairat)
Claire Janssen – goal shooter / goal attack (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Eliza Petricola – wing attack / centre (Dubai English Speaking College)
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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Company profile: buybackbazaar.com
Name: buybackbazaar.com
Started: January 2018
Founder(s): Pishu Ganglani and Ricky Husaini
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech, micro finance
Initial investment: $1 million
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Fixtures
Opening day Premier League fixtures for August 9-11
August 9
Liverpool v Norwich 11pm
August 10
West Ham v Man City 3.30pm
Bournemouth v Sheffield Utd 6pm
Burnley v Southampton 6pm
C Palace v Everton 6pm
Leicester v Wolves 6pm
Watford v Brighton 6pm
Tottenham v Aston Villa 8.30pm
August 11
Newcastle v Arsenal 5pm
Man United v Chelsea 7.30pm
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5