Climate Future Week Hears About The Success Of Dubai Can Initiative

At Climate Future Week in Dubai on Tuesday, Issam Kazim, chief executive of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, highlighted how an 800-room Dubai hotel was able to prevent up to 1.4 million plastic bottles from going to landfill in one year.
While the establishment was not named or more details revealed, statistics provided at the five-day event showed the hotel was able to prevent as much as 116 tonnes of CO2 a year from entering the atmosphere because of the sustainability move.

The resort had been churning through 117,000 500 ml plastic bottles a month before starting to supply filtered drinking water on-site rather than bottled water. Kazim said the establishment even installed a bottling plant to help distribute refillable glass bottles to each room.

Climate Future Week will run until September 30. The event encompasses discussions, workshops, films and art exhibitions to examine climate change. Policymakers, experts and those with solutions to the raging crisis will address the event over the next several days.

Green Initiative ‘Dubai Can’ Helping Emirate Meet Sustainability Goals

The Dubai hotel’s notable switch was part of the Dubai Can initiative, a major campaign launched last year that saw dozens of water fountains installed across the emirate to cut down on plastic waste, encourage the use of refillable water bottles and meet sustainability goals.
By cutting down the consumption of single use plastic bottles, the initiative aims to substantially reduce carbon emissions and environmental pollution. The project has helped save 3.5 million bottles in just half a year, the government said in September 2022.

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More than 750 companies have supported the Dubai Can initiative. The city’s Department of Economy and Tourism earlier said the sustainability movement has seen multiple companies invest in water fountains for their offices to reduce single use plastic consumption.
The project follows Dubai’s decision to place a levy on the use of single use plastic bags and aims to raise awareness about sustainability issues. Authorities said they wanted to create a “cultural shift” in the mindset of residents.