As the primary recycling facility in the UAE, Union Paper Mills processes much of the waste from NYU Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Campus. On Nov. 8, a group of students, faculty and staff went to the al-Quoz Industrial Area of Dubai to visit the facility. Union Paper Mills representatives accompanied the group around the facility's premises, where they were able to observe the recycling process from start to finish.

Union Paper Mills, in partnership with other companies, collects waste from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other areas throughout the Emirates. After collection, waste from Abu Dhabi is sorted into recyclable and non-recyclable materials at a plant in Mussafah.

All paper and cardboard is then transferred to the Union Paper Mills facility in Dubai, where it is converted into recycled material — primarily cardboard and packaging. Union Paper Mills will be opening a new plant in Abu Dhabi next year, reducing the costs and emissions that result from transportation.

Metal cans are recycled at another facility in Sharjah, while plastics are exported to other countries such as China and India for recycling. Glass, as well as other waste, is not recycled in the UAE and is transported to landfills.

The plant process 540 metric tons of paper per day, which produces approximately 500 tons of finished recyclable material, and collects 2700 tons from Abu Dhabi each month.

Representatives from Union Paper Mills were also able to provide facts about waste coming directly from NYUAD.

Ten to 15 tons of waste are collected monthly from NYUAD’s Saadiyat Campus, eight tons of which are recyclable. This represents a 200 percent increase in waste production at Saadiyat compared to the Downtown Campus and Sama Tower, which produced four to five tons of waste per month.

Cardboard and paper make up approximately 20 percent of all waste from NYUAD’s Saadiyat Campus, and are processed directly at this Union Paper Mills plant in Dubai.

From the time it enters the pulping machine, the entire recycling process takes approximately one and a half hours. While the process requires a significant amount of water — the plant uses over 1,000 square meters per day — an effort is made to recycle as much of this water as possible. The facility also requires starch to strengthen the paper and coloring to produce a uniform brown color.

At NYUAD, anything that you put into a general waste bin will not be sorted and will end up in the landfill. If you have recyclable material, put it in the recycling bin. It will be sorted, transported to Union Paper Mills and may show up again in your room as cardboard. But remember: experts agree that reducing consumption is always preferable to recycling.