Dubai
Environmental pollution, global warming and depletion of natural resources is on the rise and is a critical cause for concern. Recycling is one of the best ways to have a positive impact on the world. In order to generate awareness about this, my brother and I thought of initiating the ‘Recyclables Collection Campaign’ in our neighbourhood, comprising collecting paper, plastic, aluminium cans and old mobile phones.
We wanted to highlight the hazards of dumping paper, plastic, cans and electronic gadgets in the trash. We gave children, who were our age, an informative talk, which focused on the environment friendly principle — ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’.
The recycling campaign helped to gather 550kg of paper, 15 mobile phones and 5kg of plastics. We handed over the collections to the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG). Though this initiative was a small beginning, it was a satisfying and enriching experience to generate awareness among people in the community.
Lahek Mirpuri, a student based in Dubai, was part of the workshop.
She said: “I attended the workshop and we learnt a lot about recycling and all that we can do to protect our environment. The campaign raised awareness about how, when and why to recycle. We were all requested to bring in unwanted recyclable materials.”
Dr Rajshri Mishra, a regular contributor of materials for recycling, said: “There are 8.4 billion tonnes of man-made plastics in the world, as stated in a report published by US-based University of Georgia. These are non-biodegradable and contribute to polluting our oceans and clogging up our landfills. They are eaten by birds, animals and fish, causing terrible suffering. Every action taken to reduce or recycle this plastic counts and matters.”
We all need to adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle for environmental protection and conservation. It is our choice as to what world we want to create for ourselves. We all need to protect the environment through means of education and community involvement, in order to leave a green mark.
Save paper and reduce plastic usage, lessen food wastage, keep surroundings clean and conserve water. The key to a greener planet is in our hands.
Recycling just one tonne of paper can save 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 380 gallons of oil, 2.52 cubic metres of landfill space and 4,000 kilowatts of energy, as stated in a paper published by the US-based University of Southern Indiana.
It is a wonderful way of reducing our ecological footprint by lowering the total amount of waste we produce, which in turn aims at sustainable development and helps to improve our quality of life.
Through this report, I would like to urge everyone to recycle and adopt green practices. We all need to realise that very simple lifestyle changes and small acts can help to make a big impact on the environment. So let us all pledge to make our community and our world cleaner and greener!
— The reader is a pupil based in Dubai.
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