Carrefour and EDA join forces to organise the Clean up Arabia campaign in UAE

Carrefour's enthusiastic employees spent almost 4 hours collecting more than two tonnes of waste which included items such as broken glass, metal objects with toxic chemicals, food containers, beverages bottles, cigarettes, syringes, fishing traps etc. This debris causes extensive damage to the marine ecology and every year these harmful pollutants injure and kill thousands of marine animals that swallow it or become entangled in it.

"Through this eco-friendly initiative, Carrefour hopes to increase awareness of beach pollution across the UAE and appeal to residents to become more aware of the damaging consequences of littering the beaches and its long term impact on the ecological balance,"

said Jean Luc Graziato, Vice President of Marketing and Sourcing at MAF Hypermarkets (Carrefour).

Recently, in a push to reduce the millions of plastic bags that pollute the UAE's ecosystem every year, Carrefour introduced reusable bags at their checkout counters as an alternative to plastic bags. By using the bag 4 times, users will be reducing the usage of plastic bags by 18% thereby leading to a reduction in the emission of greenhouse effect gases by 20%.

"For more than 4 years MAF Hypermarkets LLC has partnered with EDA and played a key role in cleaning and preserving the shores and diving sites of the Arabian Gulf countries through this hugely successful environment-oriented campaign", added Graziato. "Our offices in Qatar recently organized a similar clean up drive in Ras Al Nouf Beach in Al Khor Area in association with the Supreme Council of Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR) and EDA. These are just small steps towards making a big difference to our environment."