Residents can order a pickup from their home to have a sustainable lifestyle more effortlessly.

Efficient waste management is an inseparable part of sustainable living in cities which are gearing up for the future, which is why solutions like smart dustbins as well as garbage collection vehicles are being pitched by innovators in the UAE. The country which is already recycling an increasing amount of electronic waste due to a flood of upgraded gadgets available in the markets, has also started setting up one of the largest waste to energy units in the world.

Residents in smart cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been empowered to live a sustainable life by local bodies like the electricity and water authority, via gadgets like smart metres, as well as tools to spot leakages for responsible consumption. Another addition to these solutions offered by government agencies for a greener future, is the first ever recycling app, that has managed to collect 85 tonnes of garbage for reprocessing in the past one year.

Thanks to a growing user base of over 10,000 residents, the free trash collection platform called Recapp has been able to gather 500 kilos of recyclable material including metal cans and plastic bottles, on a daily basis. People in Abu Dhabi have been able to book pickups for waste materials from the doorstep with a few clicks on the app, which has encouraged a large number of residents to actively participate in the process for sustainability.

The homegrown solution that makes responsible living a lot more convenient, gets bookings for an average of 130 collections every day. Its targeted achievement is in line with UAE government's goal to significantly cut down the amount of garbage getting piled up at landfills.

In addition to these services changing the approach of people towards recycling, students in the UAE are also using social media to recycle e-waste, while startups are reprocessing plastic into threads that are used for creating sustainable apparel.