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Largest voluntary clean-up drive in Dubai this month

DUBAI — Nearly 17,000 volunteers will take part in the country’s largest voluntary clean-up drive next week which would also include several awareness initiatives aimed at reducing waste and encouraging the public to reuse or recycle.

‘Clean Up the World 2007’, which is observed under the banner, ‘Our Climate, Our Actions, Our Future’, will be held from November 20 to November 23 during which Dubai Municipality would be carrying out a lot of activities.

“Dubai Municipality is committed to improving public cleanliness in the emirate in cooperation with individuals, government establishments, private firms and non-governmental organisations,” said Abdulla Raffia, Assistant Director-General of Environment and Public Health Affairs at the civic body.

He noted that it is the 14^th consecutive year that Dubai is organising the campaign. “The campaign also seeks to encourage the media to focus on environment protection activities, thereby enhancing awareness of governments and industries with regard to local environment issues such as waste reduction, recycling and safe disposal of waste,” he added.

Preparations for the clean-up drive are already under way with the municipality trying to ensure an even greater level of participation than last year. In 2006, more than 15,500 persons participated in removing 3,500 tonnes of litter and debris from various areas.

Shedding light on the various activities of the campaign, Yaqoob Al Ali, campaign coordinator, said apart from Dubai Municipality, several government departments, NGOs and voluntary organisations are participating in this year’s campaign. The official launch of the event will be held on November 20 at a specially-designated location along the Academic City Road near the Mushrif Park.

The opening day event will also include environment-themed parade by school students, recycled materials sculpture competition and cleaning up of the area by some 2,000 volunteers from government schools and institutions.

The second day’s activities include marine clean-up by divers, sailors and fishermen on the Deira Creek side, ‘Clean Up the World’ leaflet launch and distribution of information literature to the public.

In a bid to educate the young generation on the need to preserve environment, 1,000 specially-designed litterbins will be delivered on November 21 to 65 schools in Dubai. “This initiative is aimed at educating the students that their small action by safely disposing of the litter can make a big difference to the environment we live in,” said Raffia.

On the third day, nearly 3,000 volunteers from private schools, colleges and universities will collect debris from the former vegetable market area at Hamriya along Deira Corniche. Also on this day, pest control companies in Dubai will participate in the campaign by undertaking pest control activities in various areas.

The last day of the campaign on November 23 will see thousands of volunteers from the general public, including private company staff, NGOs, community groups and private entities joining hands in cleaning up Wadi Al Amardi along Academic City Road and various other sites designated in Al Qouz, Al Khawaneej, Al Qusais, Al Jaddaf, Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Hatta and Jebel Ali. Also on the same day, an environmental photography competition will be organised by the Lightform Filipino Photographers’ Guild at Al Bustan Rotana Hotel. The entries will be displayed prior to the selection.

The awareness programmes being organised on the sidelines of the campaign include workshops for general public on recycling of and reducing waste, environmental workshops on making usable materials from waste, broadcasting campaign programmes on school radios, collection of used materials in cooperation with Bait Al Khair charitable society, lectures in schools on the importance of waste reduction and arranging visits for students to waste recycling factories.

The Environment and Health Awareness Office will organise special awareness programmes for Dubai Municipality staff including an email contest. Some 20,000 T-shirts and more than 10,000 caps, printed with the campaign’s logo will be distributed among the volunteers.

• UAE