Dubai student who helped place e-waste bins at some malls becomes 'recycling hero 2025'
A Dubai student and an environmental advocate has been recognised as the 'Recycling Hero 2025' by the Global Recycling Foundation, becoming the only recipient of the prestigious title from the Middle East this year.
Rishabh Mittal is the founder of Going Green Dubai, a youth-led non-profit initiative that champions sustainable practices through impactful community recycling efforts.
Since its inception, the initiative has successfully recycled 5,645 kilograms of electronic waste, 17,557 plastic bottles, and 1,323 kilograms of paper waste — setting a benchmark for grassroots environmental action in the region.
'Making a difference'
Speaking about what inspired his journey, Mittal said, ' It started when I realised that recycling is something people want to do — but accessibility, especially for e-waste, is a major barrier. Old phones, chargers, cables — these are things most people have lying around, and as a tech enthusiast, I saw an opportunity to make a difference.'
His collaboration with Enviroserve, a Dubai-based recycling facility, proved instrumental. The organisation specialises in securely recycling everything from personal devices like phones and laptops to large appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines.
Mittal was impressed by their end-to-end process, which includes safe data erasure and responsible material recovery.
The Year 12 student of Dubai International Academy (DIA) Emirates Hills, said, 'Visiting Enviroserve gave me a clear understanding of the professionalism and reliability of their operations. It built my confidence to advocate for them within the community.'
'I launched my first e-waste recycling initiative in my own neighborhood in Business Bay — a 14-day campaign where we collected 210 kilograms of waste. This effort later expanded to my school and eventually to the wider Innoventures Education network. In one of our larger campaigns, we managed to collect 1,000 kilograms of e-waste,' added the Indian expat, who aspires to study Environmental Engineering at university.
Initiatives at Emaar malls
Mittal also used this platform to engage youth, schools, companies, communities and Emaar malls at The Springs Souk, Meadows Village and Meadows Town Centre to take action towards reducing the environmental footprint with e-waste recycling bins placed at each of the malls.
The Recycling Heroes Competition, hosted by the UK-based Global Recycling Foundation, sought to recognise individuals and organisations who have made significant strides in recycling and sustainability.
Participants from around the world were invited to submit a 60-90 seconds video to showcase their impactful initiatives.
'Rishabh has demonstrated his dedication to sustainability since Year 9 by running multiple campaigns in school. His e-waste recycling campaigns have gained widespread support from the community which also contributed to our school being named as a top three finalist for the World's Best School Prizes 2024 in the Environmental Action category,' said Hitesh Bhagat, Principal of DIA Emirates Hills.
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