UAE launches new digital platform to allow businesses to recycle
The UAE’s first free-of-charge door-to-door recycling mobile app service (RECAPP) has marked its second anniversary with the launch of the first B2B digital recycling platform in the UAE.
GoRECAPP.com will enable UAE businesses to deploy recycling boxes on their premises and provide adapted digital solutions for retail stores, offices, schools, sport facilities, hotels, restaurants and any other types of organisations. RECAPP announced the launch yesterday at 25 Hours Hotel to an audience of 100+ including C-level executives in the F&B industry, sustainability leaders, retailers, and media.
RECAPP was launched by Veolia Near & Middle East, the benchmark company for ecological transformation, in November 2020 as the first recycling app in the UAE, collecting plastic bottles and aluminium cans from the doorsteps of households free-of-charge.
Today, RECAPP has transformed into a holistic digital recycling solution for both individuals and businesses, with third-party carriers collecting several categories of small waste streams that are often poorly managed.
Businesses can place an order on GoRECAPP.com for a one-time recycling box or subscribe for a weekly collection. A number of options are available for the recycling boxes, targeting small waste streams usually not well recovered, including plastic bottles, cans, paper, coffee capsules, e-waste, batteries, and lightbulbs.
RECAPP also now offers a brand program for companies to deploy recycling boxes in their own stores or in their retail partners’ stores to collect end-of-life products brought back by customers.
Jérôme Viricel, General Manager of RECAPP at Veolia Near & Middle East, said: “We are proud to launch the RECAPP e-commerce website and our broader business offering, the latest in our efforts to provide a comprehensive digital recycling solution in the UAE for individuals, businesses, and waste management companies. Our new services will empower local organisations to close the loop, diverting their waste away from landfills and towards RECAPP’s segregation facilities in order to help keep the environment clean for all.”
Additionally, GoRECAPP.com includes a blog discussing important topics related to sustainability and sharing tips on how to adopt an eco-friendlier lifestyle.
Since its launch two years ago, RECAPP has built a community of over 40,000 registered users and collected 500 tonnes of recyclables and over 25 million bottles and cans. On average, RECAPP completes 2,300 collections per week with 115,000 collections honoured to date, and over 5.5 kg per collection with a rejection rate of less than 4 per cent.
Today, RECAPP has deployed its bins across 40 schools, helping to raise awareness of recycling among the young generation, as well as 50 offices, bringing a practical ESG solution for brands and companies. Additionally, there are already six brand owners working hand-in-hand with RECAPP to promote the local recycling reflex, namely Agthia, Rainbow, Nestle, The Coca-Cola Company, Borouge, and Spinneys. RECAPP has also onboarded 18 reward partners including Carrefour, Al Ain and Noon, where users can redeem points, incentivising positive and environmental behaviours with more than 35,000 promotional vouchers offered to date.
In the coming year, RECAPP aims to work in partnership with local and governmental authorities to make their digital tools available to other waste collectors, enabling the expansion of the RECAPP service into additional territories.
