DM organizes ‘Exhibition of Innovation’ from used spare parts

DUBAI- Transportation department at Dubai Municipality on Wednesday(May 28^th) has organized an exhibition of innovation in the DM main building with the aim at spreading the culture of innovation and conservation of environment among the civic body employees.  

The exhibition was inaugurated by Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality in the presence of Mohamed Julfar and Obeid Salem Al Shamsi, assistant director generals, Humaid Al Marri, director of transportation department, Ismail Al Banna, director corporate marketing & relations department and a number of senior officials.

The exhibition brought the eco-friendly innovations of Humaid Saeed Al Marri and his support team in the transportation department which is highly admired by the employees and other visitors.

Al Marri said that we have total 120 products in different categories which are manufactured by myself and with the help of my employees using used spare parts of vehicles, parts of damaged vehicles and other recyclable items from wood, glass, bottle, cable…etc.

This is the 18^th exhibition we are conducting. Previously similar exhibitions were conducted in different places including  Zabeel Park, Childrens’ City, Dubai Airport, Dubai Mall, Department of Tourism and a number of government schools.

The most attractive product is the base of a medium-sized glass table. The shiny silver-coloured car engine is just one of the many innovative things he has created out of passion for inventing items out of recyclables.

Al Marri is very enthusiastic to find out solutions to make the city a better place, and he spends his time creating useful pieces of art in his workshop at home or the one on office grounds. It is his routine to visit the workers and technicians daily in the work place to share his new ideas and know their opinions in making new products.

‘The car engine is from an old RV caravan that I used for travelling and camping. The engine stopped working one day so I brought it to Dubai Municipality workshop, and got an idea to make a table. We cleaned it, put aluminum paint on it and added wheels so we can move it around since it’s a big engine. We put the pistons as they are to hold the glass,’ he said.

His products include items ranging from home furniture and kitchen cabinets to a mini-play area for children complete with clocks, trophies, slides, swings and a tree house. He said the workshop is like his second home as he spends most of his time making things.

Almarri’s office is decorated with objects made by his own hands including the name board, wall clock, double face clock in the meeting room, a multi-purpose stationary holder carved out of wood and a paper weight made from used paper compressed into a solid block.

‘I believe in preserving the environment. There is a lot of material thrown away and not used. For example, the date tree is part of our (Emirati) history and culture. In olden days, people used to make almost everything from a single tree, even houses and boats, but now they throw away this material. I would like to say to everybody that it is possible to re-use most material we throw away,’ he said.

He praised the support of DM and its leadership for his initiatives and hoped to get more opportunities to spread the message of protecting environment through such endeavors. He also welcomed educational institutions to visit the department to know more about the activities of the department.

‘We get a lot of offers to purchase our products , but unfortunately now we don’t have plan to sell it.  Still we have been trying to set up a plant to manufacture the products on commercial basis after necessary approvals as our products are highly demanded by tourists and people who love different things at their home and office,’ he added.  

Lootah praised Al Marri and his department staff for their undying enthusiasm to spread the culture of innovation from used spare parts and thus the protection of environment which can be considered one of the best practices around the world.