Recycling firm The Green Foundation (TGF) is set on reducing the e-waste in Dubai by setting a goal of recycling more than 200,000 electronic items this year.  Currently only 5% of all waste is recycled in the Middle East.

The Green Foundation was only established last year and set up the popular ‘cash for mobiles’ recycling initiative at stores that rewards customers with cash for their old and unwanted mobile phones and other electronic devices.  So far, the most commonly donated items being are mobile phones and smartphones.

The firm plans to introduce a new initiative called ‘cash for electronics’ next month, which will offer cash incentives for donations of old digital cameras, MP3 players and game consoles.

EnviroServe, which is a government-endorsed e-scrap recycling and management is calling for more to be done to encourage responsible recycling.  One of their managers says: “E-Waste is certainly not an exclusive UAE issue. Currently only about 14% of the total electronic waste globally is recycled in a responsible manner, so there is a long way to go for all regions including the UAE and Middle East.  There are regions that have introduced legislation banning the use of landfills, for example the UK, for electrical items that has certainly had an increase on responsible recycling. Looking at this method it has assisted the UK to increase recycling and thus help the environment; the same effect could certainly be felt here.”