Dubai: The UAE is a long way behind Europe when it comes to recycling and environmental awareness.
Siddarth Bhide, Country Operations and Projects Manager for Ikea in the UAE, believes everyone must do more to protect the environment.
He said: "We have a corporate responsibility but the city's residents also have an important social responsibility. We fully support Gulf News' campaign 'No To Plastic Bags'.
"Europe is well ahead of the region in terms of generating awareness of recycling. People in countries like Sweden, Germany and the UK are already separating glass bottles, paper and cardboard at the community level; the majority of people in the UAE do not do that."
Ikea, the world's largest home furnishings manufacturer, has continuously been at the forefront of environmental awareness.
Recyclable paper bags are used as an alternative to plastic carriers. But the company has taken moves to reduce their usage. Customers are encouraged to buy reusable blue bags or to stop using bags.
US-based stores introduced a "Bag The Plastic Bag" campaign in March 2007, leading to a 92 per cent reduction in plastic carriers within a year.
Facilities are also available for shoppers to recycle the iconic Ikea pencils.
Bhide said: "It is vital to get the community involved, that is the key. If we are really serious about solving this problem we need to get everybody involved in the process, starting at school level."
"We recycle all our cardboard and paper waste. Brown paper bags are environment friendly. Our suppliers have a corporate responsibility whereby they plant ten trees for every one they cut down.
"We have drastically reduced the amount of fresh paper we use.
"We encourage customers to use old newspapers provided in our store to wrap glasses and other fragile items. We did it for a number of reasons because as a store we do consume a lot of paper. It has been one of our big successes and we have received a very positive response from customers."
Ikea customers can purchase reusable blue bags for Dh6. They are made of a durable, high-quality plastic and help reduce the use of paper bags.
Dubai's Ikea store, located at Festival City, has a tie-up with Dulsco, a labour supply company based in Dubai, who do all the recycling in India.
"We are looking at a couple of things, not just the plastic situation, to help improve the environment issue. Some of the proposals include energy saving through solar power and the safe disposal of bulbs and batteries," Bhide said.
Pollution: Paper not the answer
- It takes around six times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic one.
- Paper bags often fall apart before they can be reused.
- Paper bags generate 70 per cent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
- Most paper comes from tree pulp. Therefore the impact of paper bag production on forests is enormous.
- If paper bags are left to rot in a landfill site they release methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases.
- Paper bags are harder to recycle. It takes 91 per cent less energy to recycle plastic than it does to recycle paper.
- Paper bags are six times heavier than plastic bags and take up ten times more space. This means more lorries and ships are needed to transport them.
- Paper and plastic use roughly the same amount of oil to manufacture.
