As part of its commitment to reduce single use plastics in the Arab Region, marine conservation group, Azraq has announced a campaign specifically targeting plastic cutlery in the region.
The campaign, entitled #uselessutensils enables residents to provide their leftover plastic cutlery Freedom Pizza delivery drivers or at collection points offered by Carcluccio’s, Beitfann Studio and Lush Middle East within the United Arab Emirates between 5 May to 15 June 2019, after which they will be provided to Azraq’s member schools and partner artist, Mariska Nell to turn into artwork.
Managing Director of Azraq, Natalie Banks, stated that the schools would be competing against each other to have the most impactful artwork, utilising the plastic utensils as well as raising awareness of the concerns of plastic utensils on the marine environment.
“In 2016, Worldcentric.org estimated that 40 billion plastic utensils were used every year in the United States alone, the majority of which were thrown out after just one use, ending up in landfills and waterways,” Ms Banks said.
“Plastic utensils are among the items that we have found along the coastlines of the United Arab Emirates during our beach clean ups and are, like plastic straws, most of the time unnecessary.”
Launched over Ramadan, Azraq is urging everyone to avoid unnecessary plastic for the health of both humanity and the environment and encouraging the hospitality industry in particular to reconsider their reliance on single use plastic.
“Outlets have focussed on ditching the plastic straw in the UAE as part of our #stopsucking campaign launched last year; the year we are urging them to ditch the plastic utensils, providing an alternative like bamboo or birchwood sets and making customers opt-in for these,” Ms Banks said.
“Most of the time, home and work deliveries don’t need to have plastic utensils included with the order as the person has access to their own cutlery.”
This is yet another example underneath Azraq’s Marine Debris campaign, which has to date focussed on cigarette butts, balloon releases and plastic straws as well as offering beach clean ups as part of corporate social responsibility for schools and corporates, of how small changes can have big impacts.
To find out further information regarding the #useless utensils campaign visit: https://azraqme.org/uselessutensils