Residents of Abu Dhabi and Dubai now have more options for trading in plastic for goods as the nation keeps making significant advancements in recycling.

People can recycle their plastic bottles in the Yas Mall and World Trade Centre malls in Abu Dhabi in exchange for gift cards to local shops.

One plastic bottle is equal to one point, and customers will receive a Dh50 coupon to use at a variety of participating stores at the shopping centres such as Lulu, Carrefour, and Virgin, for every 250 points they collect.

At the WTC mall, 35 kg of plastic bottles were collected daily on average last month.

Ayoola Brimmo from Cycled reported that in June, the machine was utilised about 11,500 times.

"From May to June, weight uptake climbed by 94%, while utilisation increased by 190%. Users can convert their points into gift cards for Netflix or shopping vouchers that can be used to purchase Netflix subscriptions.

Two Cycled SmartBins have been placed in both malls. They were first piloted in 2020 and formally debuted last year.

Prior to sorting, they scan the goods to determine the substance, gather and process the containers, and then reward the user.

Downloading the Cycled mobile app is advised for users. Before depositing their plastic waste, they must first scan the QR code on the machine.

To obtain their vouchers, users just selected the "redeem reward" option on the app.

More people have flocked to the recycling machines after the emirate recently implemented a ban on plastic bags.