Dubai: At 8am on a Friday morning, 10-year-old Farheen Kooliyattayil is usually fast asleep like most of her peers. But on Friday, she was planting a tree and proudly fixing a placard with her name beside it.
She was one among the environment enthusiasts whose recycling efforts were rewarded by planting of tree in their names, in a public place.
As many as 160 trees were planted by students, schools and organisations who successfully achieved their recycling target, set by the Emirates Environment Group (EEG) as part of the 11.11.11 campaign organised by them.
The trees were planted at the premises of the Environment and Protected Areas Authority in Sharjah.
Targets
Participating schools and organisations were given a target to collect 1000 kilogrammes of paper, 500 kilogrammes of plastics, 100 mobile phones, 500 kilogrammes of TetraPak, 100 kilogrammes of cans or 150 toners, all in a span of 15 days.
For individuals, the target was 500 kilogrammes of paper, 50 kilogrammes of plastics, 25 mobile phones, 50 kilogrammes of TetraPak, 50 kilogrammes of cans or 50 toners over a month.
"The campaign has helped us divert from the landfill a total of 178,134 kilogrammes of paper, 5,222 kilogrammes of plastics, 1,625 toners, 576 kilogrammes of TetraPak and 283 mobile phones," EEG Chairperson Habiba Al Marashi, said.
The 160 trees will help mitigate the climate change and global warming, by absorbing 20 tons of carbon dioxide in the next 10 years.
"We are extremely proud of the achievements of the participants."
Last year, the first edition of the campaign saw trees being planted at Mushrif Park in Dubai. In 2012, we hope to hold the campaign in Abu Dhabi, Al Marashi said.
Sagar Jaswal, student of Delhi Private School, Sharjah, collected the highest amount of recyclables among students and planted five trees in his name. He said that he felt proud about doing his bit for the community, adding that his sister helped him too.
Giving back
Rudra Aswani,a Grade 5 Indian High School student, said that when he knocked doors in his neighbourhood, not everyone was pleased about recycling or convinced about the need to do so. "We have to give back to the society as much as we can," he said.
"It is very important to inculcate environment values in children for them to be groomed into better individuals," said Bala Sadasivan, teacher at GEMS Millennium School.
Shayne Rosqueta, project coordinator at EEG, said the event, was held under the slogan One Root, One Communi-TREE, and that the aims include diversion of waste from landfills, implementing habitual long-term recycling and promoting civic responsibility. Over 50 students, 45 organisations and 24 schools participated.
