DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dulsco Environment is encouraging schools across the UAE to get the new term off to a green start, with a series of simple, sustainability-focused tips that can be adopted in inside and outside the classroom.

With the spotlight on sustainability like never before, Dulsco Environment wants teachers, pupils and parents to think more about recycling, waste management and conserving our environment when schools go back next week – and make sustainability part of their long term goals at school and home.

Joelle Saab, Recycling and Treatment Director at Dulsco Environment, said: “Sustainability and the environment should be high up on the educational agenda. While there have been great strides in schools’ green initiatives over the last few years, there is still a long way to go.

“Schools that adopt green initiatives will help the UAE meet its sustainability targets, save on running costs and instill green thinking in the minds of the youngsters of today who will become the leaders of tomorrow. With COP28 just around the corner, the new school term is the ideal time for everybody to make eco-friendly practices – at school and at home – part of their daily lives.”

Dulsco’s top 10 tips for back to school sustainability:

  • Environmental awareness: put up posters – ideally digital or printed on recycled paper – in staffrooms, classrooms, canteens and corridors to build awareness of how to go green. Download a Dulsco poster here. In addition, organise regular awareness sessions about waste recycling and sustainability;
  • Recycling bins:  install colour coded, clearly labelled bins throughout schools to encourage teachers and pupils to segregate their waste at source.
  • Say no to single use plastic: replace single use drinks bottles and other items from school and replace them a re-usable, sustainable product;
  • Set targets: make recycling a fun challenge by setting goals on waste management and sharing the targets with all teachers, pupils and parents.  Track progress, and celebrate milestones as they are reached and nominate monthly recycling champions;
  • Collection campaigns: hold regular campaigns where pupils bring in paper, cards, cans and plastic for recycling, and unleash younger kids’ creativity by organising waste-to-art sessions;
  • Lights out!: turn off lights – at school and at home – when nobody is in the room;
  • Food for thought: cut food waste at the school canteen by customising portions – serve smaller amounts with the option to add, rather than a big portion that may not be eaten. Introduce food composters for leftovers to turn food into a soil enhancer that can be used in school landscaping activities.
  • Lunches: pack kids’ lunch bags with reusable water bottles and wrap food in washable, reusable material such as beeswax paper;
  • Notepads: if you can’t go digital, use recycled paper pads and colouring books, and make them go further by making more notepads from unused pages;
  • Homework: encourage students to complete their homework and school projects in natural daylight to save electricity – and cut energy consumption bills in the process.  If using a desk light, make sure it has an LED bulb;
  • Get walking or carshare:  cut vehicle emissions, reduce traffic jams and boost fitness by walking to school in the cooler months. If walking isn’t an option, try carpooling.  

Over the last two years, Dulsco’s team of environmental experts has presented sessions on waste segregation and contributing to the circular economy to more than 3,500 people – including teachers and pupils. And Dulsco Environment’s recycling bus, now a familiar site on the UAE’s roads, visits dozens of schools each year as part Dulsco’s commitment promoting sustainability. To book an awareness session and the bus, call 800 WASTE or email waste@dulsco.com.

The company also provides waste management and recycling  services for more than 120 educational establishments in the UAE.

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About Dulsco Environment

Dulsco Environment, a part of Dulsco Group, provides international best practice waste management, recycling services, helping businesses, industries and residential communities meet their ‘green goals’, while significantly contributing to government sustainability targets .

Established in 1996 as a waste transporter, today, Dulsco Environment is a leading, highly respected environmental solutions provider serving residential developments, ports, the oil and gas industry, the construction sector, and more.