Dubai: An 11-year-old student and ‘Drop It Youth’ Ambassador, Beau Fountain, has spearheaded a campaign to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic at his school, Kings’ School Dubai.
Fountain launched a weeklong campaign at his school to encourage students to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic including plastic bottles, plastic cutlery and straws, and plastic bags.
Drop It Youth, a UAE-based initiative, aims to empower young individuals from 11 to 22 years old to campaign against single-use plastic pollution. During the campaign, each student at the school was required to upload the number of plastic bottles, plastic cutlery and straws, and plastic bags they did not use each day. Over 246 students participated in the campaign and at the end of the week, they reduced their consumption by a total of 3,025 plastic items.
“I’m thankful to my principal and teachers for giving me the opportunity and their support to execute this campaign and it is great to see the participation from everyone at school. I believe that there is a need to reduce the consumption of plastic, as it causes significant harm to our ocean and marine life,” said Fountain.
According to the statistics, 90 per cent of the trash in the oceans is from plastic. On an average, a family throws out 400-600 water bottles per year and 80 per cent of these plastic water bottles aren’t recycled and end up in landfills. “It is critical to inculcate environmentally-conscious behaviour among children at a young age,” said Higgins, Principal of Kings’ School Dubai.
Meanwhile, Emily Leggate, Year 5 Teacher and Social Community and Social Responsibility Leader explained that ‘The Plastic Reduction Week’ has been useful not only to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic but also to increase awareness among the students about the harmful effects of plastic to the environment. “We have witnessed keen interest from students during this week to participate in the campaign and we hope that the students continue to reduce the usage of single-use plastic as part of their lifestyle in the future as well,” she said.
