DA LOOP · DUBAI AIRPORTS
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© Zero Waste
DA LOOP · DXB + DWC
The first airport in the world to report its waste performance live, in public.
The DA Loop turns Dubai Airports' waste into resources — one circular system across DXB and DWC, measured hourly and shown to everyone.
Recovery rate today
62.8%
Ahead of the ladderQ4 2026 target ≥50%
Tonnes recovered today
128.4 t
CO₂e avoided today
244.0 t
≈1.9 t CO₂e per tonne recovered · illustrative
Diversion from landfill
≥98%
Live from Greenshare · refreshed hourly · third-party verified monthly.
The living ladder
Schedule 2, quarter by quarter
Step chart of quarterly recovery targets rising from 25% in Q1 2026 to 98% through 2030, with diversion from landfill held at or above 98% throughout. Current position: Q4 2026 at 62.8% recovery, ahead of the ≥50% target.
One vocabulary
Six words, one direction
REFUSE
/verb/
Decline what should never enter the airport.
REDUCE
/verb/
Shrink what cannot be refused.
REUSE
/verb/
Keep items in service, again and again.
REPURPOSE
/verb/
Give a material a second job.
RECYCLE
/verb/
Return materials to industry as feedstock.
RECOVER
/verb/
Take energy from what remains.
prevention first, recovery last, landfill never.
A shared vocabulary, not a second system.
Read the full lexicon →Where the leverage is
Who moves the material
- Passengers & terminals54.4% · 23,793 t
- Airlines & GHA35.6% · 15,557 t
- Workshops6.5% · 2,844 t
- Cargo & BOH4.2% · 1,838 t
- F&B0.7% · 306 t
43,750 tonnes in 2025. Nine in every ten kilograms sit with just two communities.
Proven parts
Standing on proven ground
London Gatwick
On-site processing · public reporting
Processes organics on the airfield and publishes performance openly.
Singapore Changi
Standardised terminal infrastructure
One station grammar across every terminal, so passengers never relearn.
Amsterdam Schiphol
Circular innovation · waste scanning
Scans and classifies streams to close material loops airside.
San Francisco SFO
Tenant rules at scale
Binds hundreds of tenants to a single zero-waste rulebook.
BIT EAST + Copenhagen
Behavioural cues that measurably work
Footsteps, apertures and defaults — nudges with published effect sizes.
DA Loop assembles these proven parts into one system — Dubai Airports becomes the first to run them all at hub scale.
The ecosystem
Facilitated by Dubai Airports
INSEAD
Verimpact
Dubai Municipality
UAE Circular Economy Council
DECCA
MOCCAE