sanchita – Madenat – E Waste Recycling

24Aug 0

August 24, 2022

How To Recycle Right?

Has it ever happened to you that you collected many recyclable items & took them to a recycling facility only to find out it was all perfect for a trash can? However noble your intentions may be, but if you cannot execute them in the right manner, no one will benefit from it… not you, nor your community, and definitely not the environment. It is very important to understand HOW to collect recyclables. Let us help you with some tips below.

1. If you are a recycling enthusiast, you will have a recycling bin, a dedicated box or a corner in the house where you collect all recyclables to give to a recycling facility periodically. While you collect, segregate them as plastic, paper, glass, metal etc. All these have different recycling process. If not segregated, it is an unnecessary extra effort for the recycler, and he might charge you for the required manpower.

2. Most of the metal items go into your recycling bin. But when you put Food cans in the bin, rinse and clean them. The paint cans need to be emptied before giving for recycling. Pressurized cans used for paint, deodorant or any other reason, also need to be sprayed out completely to reduce the pressure before recycling them. This saves your time at the recycling center. If not, there might be municipality procedures to follow with the recycler to dispose the liquid.

3. Dead batteries need to be collected in a separate recycling box. Also make sure you drop them at a recycling facility before they start leaking. The chemical that it emits, is hazardous for living beings around, and the environment. Batteries that are received at Madenat recycling facility, go through a process of securing the terminals, repacking, and then shipping according to the Basel Convention requirements to our partners abroad for proper and environmentally safe recycling processes.

4. Keep all tube lights, fluorescent bulbs in closed box. Their broken glass, mercury, can harm the one handling them. Please note that spent lamps are hazardous waste and the recycler needs to have the right machinery to destruct them to segregate glass, metal, and the mercury. As this process is complicated and costly, the recycler may charge you for the spent lamps. But this small amount you pay, will have priceless returns for you and the generations to come.

5. Electronics are called urban mines. They consist of ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals and even variety of precious metals. Hence, do not forget about those old electronics kept in the bottom most drawer. If recycled in time, they can be refurbished to be used by needy or even recycled to extract metal and plastic for further use. Our house is also filled with variety of cables. They also consist good amount of metal and plastic which needs to be retracted for reuse. Collect all non-working cables at home in a recycling box. Be it non-working earphones, broken chargers, power cables, Ethernet cables that are not in the use etc. Recycling E waste in time is important.

We hope our tips will ease your recycling journey and you will be a recycling hero for everyone around you. See you soon at Madenat Recycling Facility in Dubai Investment Park 2, Dubai, UAE.

5Aug

August 5, 2021

Summer Care Routine for Electronics

Middle East is known for its scorching heat in the peak summer months. There is over 13 hours of direct sunlight and the mercury soars even higher than 45C. But we all have adjusted to the climate and don’t let it affect our daily life. But have we done the same for all the electronics we are surrounded with? May be not. So today, let us look at a few things we should be doing to maintain a good summer care routine for our devices.

No direct Sunlight

Even though you have bought a GCC model of the phone, the maximum temperature most mobile phones can bear is 45C. Avoid using electronics keeping in direct sunlight. When keeping them in car, place in shaded area like cup holder or glove box. Also, never leave your electronics in a parked car. Inside temperature of the parked car rises as it is closed and can damage the electronics.

Do not stack

When you reach home, you keep laptop on the table, remove earphones and place them on the laptop, if you have 2 phones then keep them stacked on one another either besides or on top of the laptop. You then sit in front of the AC to cool-off. But while you are cooling yourself, the electronics are heating up due to trapping of heat because we just kept them stacked. There needs to be 2 to 3 cm gap between 2 devices. This helps maintain airflow and avoid unnecessary heating up. Most electronics have vent at the back of the device. When placing them anywhere, the vent should not be covered. Also there Hence, maintain breathing space for electronic devices.

Cover well

We carry our devices everywhere. Be it a pool, beach, or a stroll in the park. If they are not covered in a case, water splashes, can splash while swimming on Sand, water, dust find their way to the internal hardware of the device through speakers, earphone jack and so on

Be mindful of device charging

When the battery is charging, the device heats up. If we have kept it on the cushion or in a closed set up, the heat increases which can reduce the battery life. Hence always charge your devices in a well-ventilated area, on a cooler surface which will help control the temperature and will lengthen the life of electronics.

Shut down

If after taking all the necessary care also device heats up and is misbehaving or malfunctioning due to overheating…Just shut it down! Let the device cool down, resolve the problem on its own and then you can restart it for use.

We hope these tips will help you take good care of your electronics this summer. Follow these to avoid any electronics fires and related accidents.

2Jun

June 2, 2021

Environment Day’s #OneGreenHabit

World Environment Day is an initiative of United Nations to create awareness and inspire actions for environment protection. Since 1974, the world is been celebrating Environment Day on June 5th, every year. As a responsible recycler, Madenat Recycling celebrates environment day all year long through its actions. So on this special occasion we are encouraging others to contribute in environment sustainability through our campaign, #OneGreenHabit ! Through various platforms, we are helping good people start at least one habit that will help the earth get cleaner & greener.

We believe that everyone follows even one habit, collectively it will have a much larger positive impact on the planet. There are numerous habits to choose from. Below are a few examples,

We encourage you to share your good habits to motivate others by filling them here>> https://forms.gle/XrygmR4S3C8YY7bZ6

We have been receiving some wonderful responses to our #OneGreenHabit from around the world. Below are some responses.

The best way to save yourself is to save others.
James Wood from USA

You have a moral obligation to your future generation. Please reduce, recycle, reuse natural resources
Munir Mujavar from Canada

Collect all plastics and use them for their fuel value by incineration. All plastics originate from oil. This is done in Europe
Peter Paine from UK

Let’s Monitor Our Energy Consumption and be Energy Efficient.
Enock Nyanaro from Kenya

Safe life begins with clean planet.
Ibrahim Absa from Palestine

Join the tribe. Start your #OneGreenHabit on the occasion of World Environment Day 2021! Let us know in the comments below which green habit are you starting and if you are not able to zero down on any one, we will help you do so. Let us make our planet better together.

22Apr

April 22, 2021

Earth Day Every Day!

As a responsible recycler, we celebrate Earth Day everyday. But on the occasion we would like to provide you with some ideas you can follow to make this cleaner and greener by every coming Earth Day. If everyone takes atleast one of the following green pledges, our planet will breath again.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Buy only if needed
Use energy-saving bulbs
Conserve Water
Minimize Plastic usage
Plant trees
Carpool
Walk/bike/take public transport
Shop wisely
Restore our earth

These are just a few idea that we can think of. Do read our other blogs to be well informed about all the environment sustainability efforts we can take to save the planet. Do suggest more actions to be taken to reduce our carbon footprint and restore our planet.

8Feb

February 8, 2021

Green Ways To Gift Your Loved Ones!

In a year there are multiple occasion where we gift our loved ones. We, as a responsible recycler understand how our 1-day celebration affects environment for long. Let us share that with you to make sure there is no pollution and just love in the air. Below are some tiny tweaks in your celebration plan to make it even more special and without causing any harm to the environment. Here are some popular gifts exchanged and their consequences.

Flowers

Most flowers we buy in our local markets are imported from various flower producing countries. A lot of fuel is burned, and pollution is amplified to transport that 1 little rose you want to buy for him/her. A cut flower as a gift may make you happy for a day but it is going to wither after a while. Instead, if you gift a house plant of rose or any other flower, it will remind your loved ones of you every day. This is a much cleaner, greener, and beautiful way of gifting flowers. Don’t you think?

Take away – Gift flowers but as plant.

Cards

These days we get stylized, multipage greeting cards in the market. These cards are plastic laminated, glitter decorated which is not environment friendly at all. Also, a single line you write on your own on a recycled paper is much more valuable to the reader than these store-bought cards.

Take away – Give cards but handmade

Chocolates

We eat chocolates every time of the year. They won’t taste different, if gifted in a ribbon wrapped, plastic quoted, glittery heart shaped box. Instead, make chocolates together at home or gift a nice premium chocolate wrapped in recyclable paper. The extravagant wrapping is going in the waste bin anyway and is just going to increase pollution.

Take away –Avoid extravagant chocolate gift boxes

Fragrances

Most perfume sprays are packed in aerosol bottles. These pressurized cans, if not recycled, release hazardous components in the air. Scented candles, if are not made from natural wax, release harmful chemicals when burning. You do not want to inhale all that and ruin your family dinner. So be alert when buying fragrances for your romantic evening.

Take away – Buy natural fragrances with safe packaging

These are just a few examples. There are many more gifting ideas in the market rising around celebration time/holiday season. As a responsible human being we urge you to know the price you pay, and the mother Earth pays for the gift you choose. Hence, show your love to the environment while showing it to your loved ones. Share it with green heart if you agree and will implement it henceforth.

P.S. – These ideas can be implemented on Birthdays, Eid, Diwali, Christmas or any day you wish to gift your loved ones.

10Nov

November 10, 2020

How To Stop Holiday Waste?

The positive and cheerful time of the year is here. We are all celebrating the season with gifts, feasts and decorations. Check out the below table before we talk further,

For us	For Mother Earth
Pretty looking gifts	Paper and cardboard waste
Home decorations	Single-use plastic waste
Gadget upgrades	Waste electrical & electronic equipment
Festive glitter	Spent lamps waste

These are just a few examples of what we do and what we get in the holiday season. During Holiday season, there is a minimum of 25% rise in the waste generation. Here are some tips to avoid waste and let the planet also enjoy the season.

Light Right

Do not buy cheap holiday lights every year. Go for LED lights which are energy efficient, safer for indoor settings and after the holiday, you can just keep them in the box to be used for next year’s holiday and many more holidays to come.

Recycle delivery cardboards

Buying everything online is the new normal. As the festive season begins, we will end up buying a lot more stuff online than usual. When that is delivered, we should fold and compile all cardboards and give for recycling. We can even reuse them to store things.

Rethink gift wrappers, ribbons and bows

Every year in the holiday season, the length of ribbon bought is bigger than the circumference of the Earth. Where does it all end up? In landfill. If opened carefully, the wrapping papers, ribbons can be used for other decorations and upcycled products.

Donate old electronics before gadget upgrades

There are huge discounts/offers/sales for shoppers during the festive season which makes us buy electronics even when our old gadgets performing the same function for us are still working and in good condition. We can donate these to the less privileged to spread the holiday cheer.

Buy electronic gift items with rechargeable batteries

Batteries are hazardous waste and finding a recycling solution for them is not easy. Let us try and reduce the waste batteries. When buying electronics for yourself or for gifting, go for the one which comes with chargeable batteries.

Check for recycling program

Most electronics manufacturers or retailers have a tie-up with recyclers for responsible disposal of the electronics they are making or selling. Ask for it and responsible the old stuff before you buy new.

Home Decorations

Decorating home is one of the most joyful tasks of the season. While doing so, opt for metal decorations instead of one-time use plastic decorations. You can store them well and use year on year without piling up plastic waste.

Gift experiences than materials

Avoid materialistic gifts and their wrapping, shipping. Gift experiences! May be event tickets, memberships or just some creative talent showcasing gift. What more experiential gifts can you think of?

Author: sanchita