Dubai
Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) on Saturday awarded winners of its “Recycle. Reforest. Repeat” programme against desertification.
The programme was held between June and July and followed this year’s theme of “Our land. Our home. Our Future” of World Day to Combat Desertification.
EEG has joined hands with the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in its efforts to restore degraded soils.
The EEG programme targeted paper collections as the recycling of paper allows for sustainability through minimising carbon dioxide emissions and the number of trees that are being cut down, hence reducing the pressure on natural resources.
It aimed to create awareness at the grass-root level on the need to preserve the environment by engaging the community in a constructive activity with a target to accomplish.
The target for paper collection was 750kg of paper for corporate and academic members and 350kg for student members. The project witnessed participation from 67 entities, who effectively backed the global contributions to sustainable development goals by their local actions.
The participants collectively deposited over 48 tonnes of paper during the one-month period. The recycling of the collected paper resulted in the mitigation of 186 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide and saved 819 trees from being felled, EEG said.
On Saturday, EEG awarded the champions of the project during a closing ceremony at Grand Millennium Hotel, Dubai. EEG chairperson Habiba Al Marashi awarded them with certificates of participation and with a sample of an indigenous tree to be planted in their name, under EEG’s “For Our Emirates We Plant Initiative”, in December.
The corporate champion of the project was ABB UAE, which deposited 4.82 tonnes of paper. The academic champion was Our Own High School, Al Warqaa, which collected 1.95 tonnes of paper, while the individual champion Neola Jennica Castelino deposited 601kg of paper.
