Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer) revealed that its awareness activities and campaigns in 2020 delivered significant results in promoting environmental awareness across Abu Dhabi Emirate despite the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic to its operations.
In 2020, the Center hosted and participated in nearly 110 awareness events and campaigns across the Emirate’s three regions, including Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra and actively supported several sub-campaigns in schools, private and public organizations, and commercial areas.This allowed Tadweer tocarry its message to over 254,430 people from various segments of society including Emiratis and residents from various nationalities.
In January, 2020, Tadweer’s awareness team carried out a comprehensive awareness drive before and during the Liwa Date Festival.To promote awareness among the festival participants and visitors, the Center sent short text messages, broadcast educational videos, distributed publications, and carried out field visits.This allowed the Center to deliver its awareness messages tomore than 1,500 people who participated in various activities held as part of the festival closely associated with the UAE’srich historyand cultural heritage.
In addition, Tadweer hosted several awareness activities during EcoWASTE Exhibition, Asematy initiative, HCT awareness campaign, and several other unscheduled events held in January, 2020. It distributed awareness publications developed in coordination with relevant health authorities and based on the latest guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) to educate the members of community about the precautionary measures against COVID-19 outbreak.
In February, the Public Awareness Department at Tadweer organized and participated in 24 different festivals, campaigns, exhibitions, and scheduled and unscheduled events in close coordination with theorganizing committees of these events. This demonstrated Tadweer’s priority to protect the environment and ensure the health and safety of community in Abu Dhabi.
Tadweer also ran a series of integrated media campaigns during the Middle East Youth Expo 2020, Your Waste, Your Responsibility Exhibition, and the UAE Innovation Month. Moreover, similar activities were carried out to raise environment awareness during various environmental, health and safety events, awareness visits to farms and ranches, school awareness drives, and the National Environment Day.Such participations allowed the Center to utilize the latest communication tools to deliver its environmental awareness messages to the targeted audience in a highly professional and efficient manner.
As part of its intensive awareness agenda, Tadweer organized five scheduled and unscheduled awareness campaigns in March across Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Al Dhafra. They included an awareness drive targeting 1,900 employees of various government entities, awareness campaign targeting 3,500 domestic workers, and airing multi-lingual awareness videos and messages during different events.
Tadweer’s Public Awareness Department hosted eight events in April, 2020 featuring different awareness initiatives and publications on handling food waste and requesting Tadweer’s services.It also conducted a two-phase training programforthe Department’s staff on improving their task delivery in line with the best international standards. Furthermore, the Center produced and distributed awareness materials on the appropriate use of pesticides to avoid any potential harm associated with pesticide exposure.
In May, Tadweer distributed awareness publications on public health and environmental safety across the emirate, including awareness material on proper disposal of medical waste generated by COVID-19 patients. It also broadcast videos on preventing the proliferation of ants in an effective and safe manner through various communication channels. Furthermore, awareness leaflets were distributed among the owners of farms and ranches as part of Your Waste, Your Responsibility campaign that targeted 35,000 people across Abu Dhabi. The Center also launched an initiative to highlight the precautionary against COVID-19 in Al Ain region, reaching out to nearly 4,000 workers.
Tadweer also took part in an awareness event as part of its support for Asematy initiative in June to educate the public about the proper handling of food waste.It also aired an educational video on pest control across Abu Dhabi’s three region, carried out an awareness campaign targeting the owners of ranches in Al Ain, and educated the viewers of Al Ain Channel and participants of Al Wathba Summer 2020 about the importance of environmental protection.
In July, Tadweer’s Public Awareness Department stepped up awareness efforts on the sidelines of six major events held in Abu Dhabi including Al Wathba Summer 2020, Liwa Date Festival, Globe Summer Activities, Al Ain Virtual Population Forum, and Ruwais e-Summer Program. These activities reached to over 4,000 people in the targeted areas.
Tadweer awareness team continued its engagement with Al Wathba Summer 2020 in August, 2020. The team engaged with over 700 people during its participation in Shamma Mohammed Environmental Awareness Forum and an awareness drive held in Al Ain to promote the cleanliness of ranches and educate people about the proper handling of stray animals.
In September, 2020, Tadweer launched the ‘Al Dhafra Deserves’ awareness campaign that ran for 90 days and included both field and virtual activities. Run under the theme ‘Your Waste, Your Responsibility’, the campaign aimed to enhance environmental awareness among the people of Al Dhafra Region and featured activities designed to promote proper waste handling practices in a bid to prevent littering, protect public health and contribute to the environmental conservation.As part of the campaign, Tadweer distributed more than 20,000 awareness leaflets, carried out 12,000 field visits, and launched a beach clean-up drive in view of the ongoing preventive measures taken by Abu Dhabi to prevent COVID-19 outbreak.
The Public Awareness Department at Tadweer increased its efforts and activities in October, 2020 by circulating awareness leaflets and posters at more than 20 scheduled and unscheduled events in close collaboration with Tadweer’s strategic partners. These activities helped the Center to communicate its awareness message to 10,000 people across the three regions of Abu Dhabi.
In Al Ain, Tadweer launched a virtual awareness campaign to educate school students about proper waste handling practices and highlight the negative impacts of littering on the environment. To elevate students’ awareness, the Centre distributed awareness materials providing information on personal hygiene and other key messages relevant to all students.
In November, Tadweer carried out an awareness campaign aimed at educating drivers and the general public in Abu Dhabi about the importance of correct waste management practices. Run in collaboration with Tadweer’s strategic partners, the awareness drive encouraged motorists and the general public to dispose of waste in designated bins to ensure the cleanliness of public facilities including roads, pavements, car parks and passenger waiting areas.
Throughout the campaign, Tadweer utilized various virtual communication tools including display boards to reach out to the targeted audiences in multiple languages. In collaboration with Emirates Transport, the Center sent 3,908 text messages to drivers in Abu Dhabi, 1,240 messagesto drivers in Al Ain, and 409 messages to drivers in Al Dhafra. It also collaborated with the General Headquarters of Abu Dhabi Police to disseminate 36,000 awareness messages to motorists, and broadcast awareness videos through various social media channels receiving more than 100,000 views.
The Integrated Transport Center also supported this drive by displaying awareness messages in eight bus stations and educating taxi drivers about the proper methods of handling waste.The drive took Tadweer’s awareness message to 2,978 people in Abu Dhabi, 556 in Al Ain, and 32 in Al Dhafra region. Furthermore,it communicated its awareness message to1,094 people using bus services in Abu Dhabi, 313 people in Al Ain and 160 people in Al Dhafra in line with the Center’s objective of reaching out to the widest audience possible and sensitizing them to the importance of following proper waste handling methods.
In November, Tadweer launched a virtual awareness campaign targeting both students and teaching staff of Abu Dhabi Emirate’s kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities. Run in close collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Education and Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK), the drive reached out to 9,000 students from various educational institutions and supported the Emirate’s efforts to promote environmental awareness and encourage students and staff to adopt sound and environmentally responsible practices.
During Al Dhafra Festival and camel beauty contest, Tadweer’s awareness teams engaged with over 100 ranch owners. It also carried out an awareness campaign and social responsibility workshop targeting ranch owners and campers across Abu Dhabi’s three region.
Tadweer also continued its strategic associationwith the Sheikh Zayed Heritage Festival and Al Dhafra Festival through its active participation in both events. It hosted a series of virtual awareness lectures to promote environmentally responsible behavior among different segments of society and educate them about safe waste handling and pest control practices in a bid to create a clean and pollution-free environment in the emirate.
His Excellency Dr Salem Al Kaabi, Director General of Tadweer, said: “The praiseworthy outcomes achieved by Tadweer in 2020 are testament to the diligence of our teams who delivered on Tadweer’smandateto foster environment awareness despite the unprecedented challenges they faced due to COVID-10 outbreak. Their efforts significantly contributed to sensitizing different segments of society to the importance of following proper methods in waste disposal and pest control. This will go a long way in preserving our environment and ensuring public health and safety in line with the objectives of Abu Dhabi Environment Vision 2030.”
Al Kaabi added: “Tadweer’s awareness efforts articulate the Center’s strategic objective of providing the highest health environmental safety standards to our community through their active participation in our continued endeavor to protect the Emirate’s environment and ensure its aesthetic appeal. These achievements will inspire our teams to find new opportunities to raise awareness through launching more innovative awareness campaigns and initiatives this year, while building on the past success and lessons learnt to better serve the community of Abu Dhabi Emirate.”