Atlantis Dubai invests $500,000 to reduce waste, cut down on plastic bottles

World-famous resort Atlantis Dubai, known for its luxurious rooms and water park, has invested half a million US dollars in green initiatives to reduce waste and emissions as part of its Atlantis Atlas Project, which launched a year ago.

On World Oceans Day (June 8), it announced that a significant chunk of its investment has gone into an AI technology called Winnow (also used by companies like Ikea and Hilton) to reduce waste across its main buffet operations. This has resulted in over 450,000kg of mixed materials being recycled, and reduced the resort's total waste to landfill by over 95% annually.

The destination of Atlantis Dubai –including Atlantis, The Palm, Atlantis The Royal and Atlantis Aquaventure – has also constructed a $300,000 on-site water purification and bottling plant, which will remove 2.7 million plastic bottles per year and help it get rid of single-use plastic bottles by 2023. This will directly support The Crown Prince’s 'Dubai Can' Programme - a citywide sustainability initiative.

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The resort has 100 locally-sourced and sustainable dishes across every restaurant, as well as in-room and outdoor dining.

Its most popular planet-friendly dishes include Bread Street Kitchen’s Uns Farm Caesar Salad, WHITE Beach’s local-produced Burrata and The Shore’s sustainably farmed fish tacos.

Atlantis Atlas Project’s CSR programme also has initiatives including the donation of 1,530kg of food to the Stray Dogs Centre Umm Al Quwain, as well as 15,690 meals to a humanitarian aid organisation called Tarahum Charity Foundation.

During the past year, Atlantis Dubai has supported universities and non-profit organisations to drive local marine conservation initiatives including a partnership with the UAE Dolphin Project Initiative.

Other projects funded by Atlantis Atlas Project over the past year include supporting New York University Abu Dhabi in its investigations on the impact of climate change on coral reef ecosystems, and the United Arab Emirates University in its study of critically endangered sharks and rays in local waters.

Tim Kelly, Managing Director & Executive Vice President of Atlantis Dubai, said: “Whilst we are conscious that we still have a way to go in our mission to become the Middle East’s champion for responsible and sustainable tourism, we are incredibly pleased to share the many examples of positive change we have made in just 12 months and we collectively look forward to ramping up our efforts over the coming year.”

Atlantis said the Atlas Project is part of its commitment to do business in ways that are good for both people and planet.

Opened in September 2008, the ocean-themed resort features a variety of marine and entertainment attractions, as well as 22 hectares of waterpark amusement at Atlantis Aquaventure, all within a 46-hectare site.

It is home to one of the the largest open-air marine habitats, with more than 65,000 marine animals in lagoons and displays.

Aquaventure Waterpark features 23.5 million litres of fresh water used to power 105 waterslides and attractions. Dolphin Bay is its dolphin conservation and education habitat, and Sea Lion Point were created to provide guests with the chance to learn about some of nature’s most friendly mammals.

For every marine animal experience booked at the resort, $1 is donated to conservation, sustainability, and environmental educational initiatives.

Meanwhile, Dubai's focus on making tourism more green conitnues. The Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) initiative was established to enhance the sustainability of the tourism sector and for contributing to the broader clean energy and sustainable development targets.

DST is part of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), which earlier this week celebrated sustainable practices across the city to mark the 50th World Environment Day.

From desert conservation reserves, to sustainable restaurateurs and eco-hotels, to cultural pursuits and eco-tourism attractions, DET shone a light on 50 of the city’s initiatives in environmental conservation and sustainability across the tourism ecosystem on the occasion of World Environment Day, created by the United Nations Environment Programme as “a global platform for inspiring positive change”.

Along with Dubai Can, this also included Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, which aims to increase the share of clean energy to 29% and the Emirate's energy demand by 30% by 2030 and the Ras al Khor Flamingo Sanctuary, which offers a space for the birds to breed and a safe reserve for other plants, fish and mammals to thrive.

Another initiative it featured was the Ritz Carlton's vertical farm which helps it to create hyper-local dishes and inspire food security and regenerative farming practices across their food & beverage outlets.