Dubai Municipality organised a joint cleanup campaign in cooperation with Dulsco and GEMS Education at Jumeirah Public Beach on September 18th to celebrate World Cleanup Day. The campaign is part of a series of cleanup drives scheduled to be organized in stages and in different areas of Dubai.
More than 50 volunteers from students, teachers and parents from the GEMS Education joined Dubai Municipality and Dulsco employees to collect and segregate waste on the beach, while fully adhering to all precautionary protocols related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The initiative is part of a global movement comprising 20 million people from over 180 countries that held cleanup activities to rid the planet of trash, cleaning up waste from many different locations around the world.
Dubai Municipality participates and organizes such initiatives to raise public awareness of the importance of maintaining clean beaches and to contribute to the sustainability of the marine environment and public utilities.
In addition to shedding light on the challenges facing the environment, a number of awareness-raising activities will be organized during a series of cleanup events and a competition will be organized to collect cigarette butts with Dubai Municipality’s “Nadhoof” participating to provide entertainment while helping educate participants about important environmental issues.
Dubai Municipality is committed to supporting the sustainability agenda of the United Arab Emirates, and by organizing this activity on World Cleanup Day, it is working to enhance the participation of community members in achieving this important environmental goal, especially school students and company employees, to develop the spirit of volunteerism in them and enhance social responsibility as well as encourage them to preserve the cleanliness of the Emirate.
Through this cleanup campaign, beach visitors were encouraged to realize and share the responsibility of keeping public facilities clean and safe for all by not throwing waste on beaches or into the sea, to contribute to protecting the environment and the creatures that live in it.
Dulsco also introduced its animated recycling assistant ‘Birdy’ for the first time to the public who will help drive the company’s recycling awareness program and provided entertainment for all the cleanup volunteers while also helping raise awareness among the participants about the importance of the 4R’s of waste management, that is, reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle. Dulsco is a strong supporter of the UAE’s sustainability initiatives and strongly advocates for practices that contribute to the circular economy. David Stockton, CEO, Dulsco, said: “The cleanup drive is a part of our grass-roots level initiative to empower communities and enable them to become active partners in achieving the sustainability goals of the Emirates. With Birdy on hand to help us out, we had a relatable character to communicate complex and serious environmental issues to a wide range of audiences in a way that it will be easy for them, especially young people, to understand.”
In joining the cleanup campaign, GEMS Education sought to provide a meaningful activity for its community while also being able to do its share in supporting eco-friendly activities. Through the event, Asha Alexander, CEO & Principal of GEMS Legacy along with other schools was able to promote environmental awareness while getting their teachers, parents and students to have fun and be physically active at the same time.