Electronic products have become an integral part of our day-to-day life due to their convenience and ability to enhance various aspects of modern living. With their functionalities that cater to various aspects of modern living, these products enhance convenience, communication, productivity, and entertainment, making them indispensable tools in our daily routines.
Although these devices offer great convenience and connectivity, they also bring a new challenge: electronic waste, or e-waste. Appropriately managing e-waste has become crucial, and fortunately, there are capable firms that specialize in providing these services.
Enviroserve is one of those firms that is the only integrated waste recycling hub in the Middle East, Africa, and the Caucasus, serving multi-national and large corporations, businesses, and individuals. It is an award-winning e-waste management company offering a broad range of services, including electronic waste recycling, IT refurbishment, refrigerant gas reclaiming, and specialized waste disposal. We discussed the company’s vision, mission, and goals while discovering the most eco-friendly startups making a big impact on the environment.
Below are the highlights from the interview:
Can you brief us about your company and its inception story?
Recognizing the ever-growing crisis on the world’s resources, in 2004, Enviroserve ventured on a pioneering mission to turn the challenge of e-waste into an opportunity. Nineteen years later, our 400,000 square feet processing facility with ‘zero to air, zero to land’ capability stands as a beacon of progress in UAE’s mission of sustainability, functioning as an innovative and crucial game-changer in the pursuit of a circular economy, operating in an era where we recover, recycle, and reintroduce valuable materials back into our economic cycle.
How do you ensure that your products/services are environmentally sustainable?
Enviroserve’s The Recycling Hub in Dubai Industrial City is the largest integrated electronic and specialized waste processing facility globally and the only fully equipped e-waste processing facility in the MEA. With a capacity to process over 120,000 tons of total integrated waste annually, the facility sets a benchmark for e-waste management and environmental sustainability.
The process starts with the sorting of e-waste, which is then transferred to shredders for destruction, followed by screens, sifters, induction sorters, eddy current separators, air jig, optical sensor-based sorters for segregation of destructed material to output commodities (e.g., iron, plastic, aluminum, precious metal mix, PCB fragments). Some incompatible materials/items are removed as part of the pre-sorting process and sent directly to specialized treatment facilities. Our mechanical separation process is chemical-free with industrial filtration, allowing for a 98% recovery rate, meaning that we’re keeping up to 38,000,000kg out of landfill each year. Being the largest refrigerant gas reclaiming facility in the UAE, Enviroserve has the best-equipped in-house testing laboratory to analyze gases for moisture content, acidity, and particulates. Its certified experts collect the contaminated gas from the equipment, analyze and re-process it through various stages of distillation, cleaning, and drying that meet the AHRI Standard 700-2016 for refrigerants.
How do you think the current environmental and regulatory landscape will affect your company’s growth?
We perceive the environmental and regulatory context as a catalyst for growth, explore new market avenues, and affirm our commitment to resource management and sustainability. The real narrative lies in how businesses, regulatory frameworks, and consumers respond. A preferable route would be the ‘proactive approach,’ where industry stakeholders champion sustainability in both production and consumption. By embracing a more circular operational model, the industry can mitigate adverse effects, even with the predicted surge in utilization, and truly curb waste generation.
How do you measure the impact of your company’s eco-friendly initiatives?
Combination of carbon footprint metrics, securing recognized certifications, stakeholder engagement, etc., to assess and refine our approach.
What are your long-term goals for your eco-friendly business, and how do you plan to achieve them?
Our long-term goals include Maintaining our leading position, expanding our business operations, continuously enhancing customer experience, diversifying our portfolio, cultivating a skilled and diverse workforce, deepening our commitment to social and environmental responsibility, and maximizing value for all stakeholders.
AWARD-WINNING RECYCLING SERVICE IN THE UAE
Enviroserve, a Dubai Municipality and Ministry of Environment certified recycling organization is equipped with a large state-of-the-art plant with the capacity to recycle an entire range of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment – from consumer and industrial to commercial and military appliances, such as air conditioners, batteries, IT equipment, household appliances, military avionics, and mobile phones. In addition, it can also recycle specialized waste material (aerosol cans, light bulbs, FMCG products, clothing) and is the only dedicated refrigerant gas reclaiming facility in the UAE.
CERTIFICATIONS
- ISO 14001 – Environmental Management
- ISO 9001 – Quality Management
- BS OHSAS 18001-2007 – Occupational Health & Safety
- R2v3 Certificate
MILESTONES & KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
2007 – UAE SME of the Year Award
2011 – UAE E-Waste Handler of the Year
2018 – Electrical & Electronic Equipment Processor of the Year
2019 – Officially opened The Recycling Hub
2019 – Dubai Industrial City Environmental and Sustainability Award
2021 – Electrical & Electronic Equipment Processor of the Year
2022 – R2 certification
2022 – Officially opened Enviroserve Services FZCO
2023 – Middle East Sustainability Excellence Award
