The Dubai Can Initiative – Saving Saving Plastic Bottles

• Launched by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, in March 2022, Dubai Can is a sustainability initiative to drive awareness on plastic alternatives and sustainability
• The initiative resulted in saving 104,220 500ml plastic water bottles and 52,110 litres being consumed from the installed fountains across Merex Investment’s three destinations

As part of its participation at the Dubai Can initiative, launched by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, Merex Investment has announced that it has contributed in saving more than 104,000 plastic bottles while 52,000 litres of water had been consumed from the water stations installed across its destinations; The Beach, La Mer and City Walk.

Shahram Shamsaee, CEO, Merex Investment, said: “As the owners and operators of the world-class outdoor destinations, we are committed to rethink the way urban spaces are designed to create clean sustainable happy spaces and the way people experience the city while taking part in protecting the future of our planet. Therefore, our participation at Dubai Can initiative comes in line with our commitment to spread awareness, instil a sense of responsibility and encourage our visitors to reduce the use of plastic water bottles.”

Launched in March 2022, the initiative aimed to reduce single-use plastic water bottle waste in the city by encouraging individuals to use refillable water bottles, enabling access to free and safe drinking water through the installation and use of water stations across Dubai and creating a culture of conscious living by driving awareness on plastic alternatives and sustainability issues.

The results were drawn up in Merex Investment’s Overall Impact report that showed how each destination contributed towards the sustainability initiative. City Walk saved the most amount of water bottles out of the three destinations with 41,254, while 20,627 litres of water were consumed from the installed stations. The Beach managed to save 36,160 plastic water bottles and 18,080 filtered water consumed, while La Mer saved 26,806 water bottles and visitors consumed 13,403 litres of water from fountains.

Overall, the Dubai Can Initiative across the city has, so far, resulted in 35 water stations being installed with a total of 1,077,474 plastic water bottles being saved and 538,737 litres of water being consumed across the emirate.