17,000 volunteers to clean up Dubai in 4-day drive

Clean Up the World 2007, which is observed under the banner: "Our Climate, Our Actions, Our future", is held from 20 November until 23 November.

Dubai Municipality has unveiled the campaign's activities in a press conference on Wednesday at Al Bustan Rotana attended by Abdullah Rafiu, Assistant Director General of the Municipality for Environment and Public Health Affairs, and Yaqoob Al Ali, Coordinator of the campaign.

Also present were representatives of the event's sponsors including Wadih Boustani, General Manager for Sales and Marketing at Gulf Eternit Industries, Martin Fejk, Marketing & Product Management Director at Tetra Pak, Lina Chaaban, Envirocare Manager at Tadweer, Mohammad Haj Hassan, Executive Assistant Manager at Al Bustan Rotana, and David Bass, Group Human Resources Manager of Al Naboodah Group.

"Dubai Municipality is committed to improve public cleanliness in the emirate in cooperation with individuals, government establishments, private firms and non-governmental organisations through effective participation," said Mr. Raffia.

He noted that it is the 14th consecutive year that Dubai is organising the campaign which has such noble objectives as forging a sense of mutual cooperation among organisations and institutions concerned with environment in planning and executing environment action programmes, enhancing environment awareness of the community on waste reduction and recycling issues, ensuring participation of institutions and individuals in environment programmes, cleaning up the local environment, and encouraging team-work in finding lasting solutions for the growing waste problem.

"The campaign also seeks to encourage media to focus on environment protection activities thereby enhancing awareness of governments and industries with regard to local environment issues such as waste reduction, recycling and safe disposal of waste," he said.

Preparations for the clean up are already under way with the Municipality trying to facilitate an even greater level of participation than last year. In 2006, more than 15,500 persons participated in removing 3500 tonnes of litter and debris from various areas.

Shedding light on various activities of the campaign, Yaqoob Al Ali, campaign coordinator, said apart from Dubai Municipality, several government departments, NGOs, and voluntary organisations are participating in this year's campaign.

The official launch of the event will be held on Tuesday 20 November 2007 at a specially-designated location along the Academic City Road near the Mushrif Park with senior government officials and representatives of the sponsors attending. The opening day event, which will begin at 10 a.m., will also include environment-themed parade by school students, recyclable materials sculpture competition, and cleaning up of the area by some 2000 volunteers from government schools and institutions.

The second day's (Wednesday, 21 Nov) activities include marine clean up by divers, sailors and fishermen on the Deira creek side (adjacent to twin towers), clean up the world leaflet launch and distribution, information literature and distribution of awareness leaflets to public. In a bid to educate the young generation on the need to preserve environment, 1000 specially-designed litterbins will be delivered on Wednesday (21 November) to 65 schools in Dubai. "This initiative is aimed teaching the students their small action by safely disposing the litter can make a big difference for the environment we live in," said Mr. Makki.

On the third day (Thursday, 22 November), nearly 3000 volunteers from private schools, colleges, and universities will collect debris from the former vegetable market area at Hamriya along Deira Corniche. Also on this day, pest control companies in Dubai will participate in the campaign by undertaking pest control activities in various areas.

The last day of the campaign (Friday, 23 Nov) will see thousands of volunteers from the general public including private company staff, non-governmental organisations, community groups and private entities joining hands in cleaning up Wadi Al Amardi along Academic City Road and various other sites designated in Al Qouz, Al Khawaneej, Al Qusais, Al Jaddaf, Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Hatta, and Jebel Ali. Also on that evening (Friday, 23 November), an environmental photography competition will be organised by the Lightform Filipino Photographers' Guild at Al Bustan Rotana Hotel and the entries will be displayed prior to the selection and felicitation of the winners on the same day.

The awareness programmes, organised on the sidelines of the campaign, include workshops for general public on recycling and reducing waste, environmental workshops on making usable materials from waste, broadcasting campaign programmes on school radios, collection of used materials in cooperation with Bait Al Khair charitable society, lectures in schools on the importance of waste reduction, and arranging visits for students to waste recycling factories. The Environment and Health Awareness Office will organise special awareness programmes for Dubai Municipality staff including an email contest.

Some 20,000 high-quality T-shirts and more than 10,000 caps, printed with the campaign's logo, will be distributed among the volunteers.

Addressing the press conference, Martin Fejk, Marketing and Product Management Director, Tetra Pak Arabia, said: "In line with our motto, protects what's good, Tetra Pak has committed to this initiative to preserve the environment and also raise awareness of the recyclability of our post-consumer beverage cartons. It is important to get the message across that recycling and reducing waste is an essential part of today's lifestyle and a responsibility to our community."

David Bass of Al Naboodah Group said: "We are proud to be an integral part of Dubai's glorious past, inspiring present and the promising future. As an industry leader we are committed to the future and are determined to contribute to the sustainable development of the region.

Our commitment drives us to join hands with Dubai Municipality for this initiative."

Lina Chaaban of Tadweer said: "In Tadweer, our mission is to create a quality environment through educational partnerships and leadership, increasing waste reduction, recycling and resource conservation by means of raising the awareness of our commitment to our communities, via making a positive contribution to clean up and protect the environment.

Mohammad Haj Hassan of Al Bustan Rotana said: "To ensure continual improvements and raise the level of environmental activities with in Rotana Hotels, we have been part of Clean up the World Campaign together with Dubai Municipality for the last 2 years and continue to foster this environmental vision all year round and across all our company's employees by general training to raise their knowledge and awareness of environmental activities; those working in specialized fields receive specific training that encourages them to learn and apply new environmental technologies."