Qtel introduces new Hala Packs to its customers

The packs, which have been fully rebranded with the new look and feel of Qtel's 'Fuel Your Senses' refresh, are now made from a special blended recycled card material.

With Hala - Pay As You Talk by far the most popular mobile service in the country, and tens of thousands of people buying new packs every month, the decision to use recycled card will have an immediate impact on resource use.

Recycling helps save trees and water, since making a tonne of paper from recycled feedstock saves up to 17 trees and uses 50% less water than manufacturing new paper. It also helps reduce the overall refuse problem, because paper waste in Qatar accounts for 40% of all household waste by weight and 50% by volume.

The decision follows Qtel's earlier move to print Dawli and Hala scratch-cards on biodegradable card, to reduce the damage caused by carelessly discarded used cards. Qtel is also increasingly looking to deploy online and electronic options for payments, bill printing and notices to customers, to reduce overall paper use by the company.

Qtel even provides a large network of Self-Service Machines across Qatar, which allows customers to directly top-up Hala and pay bills without using any paper at all.

Qtel continues to support a wide range of initiatives under its wider corporate social responsibility campaign, 'For Qatar, Hand in Hand.'