• Senior executives of both companies meet to sign strategic agreement and discuss areas of future collaboration on driving the UN’s SDGs

To mark World Environment Day, DMCC, the world’s flagship Free Zone, and the leading trade and enterprise hub for commodities, announced a partnership with Duracell, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-performance alkaline batteries, to encourage employees to recycle their used batteries.

The partnership sees the rollout of designated collection battery bins across the 66 towers of DMCC’s Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) district, host to over 15,000 member companies with a workforce of nearly 60,000. Towards the end of the year, Duracell will reveal the total number of batteries recycled.

Duracell is one of the biggest investors in battery collection & recycling programs, and this partnership forms part of The Great Battery Challenge initiative, which aims to change consumer behaviour by encouraging them to recycle used batteries to protect the environment.

“DMCC is delighted to partner with Duracell to mark World Environment Day as a result of our shared commitment to sustainability and determination to protect the environment,” said Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, DMCC.

“In 2017, DMCC became the first Free Zone in the Middle East to commit to the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, the UN Global Compact. We will continue to focus our efforts on sustainable, ethical and responsible business practices to drive progress towards the UN Global Compact’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals alongside Duracell and the 15,000 companies based in our Free Zone,” he added.

In addition to initiative launch, senior representatives of both parties signed an agreement to collaborate on future projects to drive the sustainability agenda and progress towards the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“As an environmentally-minded corporate citizen, Duracell is committed to continuous efforts to improve our environmental impact throughout our operations and products’ lifecycle. We are proud to partner with DMCC to champion battery recycling efforts and work together to achieve our shared sustainability goals. The Great Battery Challenge is a hugely exciting opportunity to promote sustainability through responsible recycling and our aim is to expand awareness and create excitement about battery recycling as well as demonstrating that battery collection and recycling can be positive for the environment compared to landfilling,” said Amer Afifi, General Manager – Duracell Middle East & India.

Just last month, Duracell signed a partnership agreement with environmental management company Bee’ah which will see The Great Battery Challenge launching in 100 schools and 50 retail outlets in UAE in October 2018.

World Environment Day occurs on 5 June every year and is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment. For more on the project, please visit: www.worldenvironmentday.global. To find out more about Duracell please visit: www.duracell-me.com.