Dubai Media Inc. (DMI) in association with Mohammed Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development on Sunday launched a campaign to recycle papers used by its affiliate newspapers.

The initiative, which is part of the green paper draft to preserve the environment, will help save at least 30 per cent of papers used in the UAE, Emarat Al Youm reported.

The project will involve distribution of green bags to the subscribers of DMI newspapers Al Bayan and Emarat Al Youm, which will be used to recollect the newspapers and sent to the factories for recycling.

The recycling will help reduce the paper manufacturing cost by about $ 138 million, approximately one-third of the total operation cost of $ 415 million involved in paper manufacturing for the UAE, said Faisal Haider, General Manager of Massar at DMI.

The project is carried out in coordination with Mohammed Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development, Dubai Municipality as well as the Ministry of Environment and Water.

“Our ultimate aim is to make UAE landfills free of papers, which can be recycled and entered again in the paper industries,” Bin Haider said.

Most of the presses in the developed world use about 50 per cent of the recycled papers, which helps reduce reliance on trees and natural resources and reduce environmental risks caused by them.

“The paper used in newspapers is most costly and on an average a newspaper incurs about 40 to 60 million dirhams a year for the purchase of paper only, regardless of other the costs, if recycled paper is used then the newspapers can reduce their operation cost signficantly,” Bin Haider informed.