CLEANUP ARABIA

CLEANUP ARABIA

FEATURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY ALLY LANDES

We have had such a busy series of events for Cleanup Arabia this year, not to mention it was a successful campaign at that. We have our Partners to thank for making this event possible each year with Majid Al Futtaim, our Platinum Sponsor, Dubai Duty Free, our Gold Sponsor, and Emirates NBD and Chalhoub Group, our Silver Sponsors.

Cleanup Arabia Participants with His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

CLEANUP ARABIA 2019 Cleanup Arabia was separated into four events this year with Chalhoub Group opening the campaign, with their dive clean-up on the 11th of October with Freestyle Divers at Dibba Port’s Outer Wall. They collected a total of 94.5 kg between them. The second event was in Abu Dhabi on the 8th of November for our two dive clean-ups with Al Mahara Diving Center and Ocean Dive Center, and the Eastern Mangrove clean-up with volunteers from our partner Emirates NBD and EDA members, including members from the European Union’s delegation to the UAE. The mangrove clean-up was done on foot and by kayaks, and 248 kg of rubbish was collected. The dives accumulated 274 kg.The third event – the main event – in Dibba, Fujairah, was postponed from the 1st to the 22nd of November due to Cyclone Maha causing some havoc over on the East Coast. Freestyle Divers, Al Boom Diving, Divers Down, Sandy Beach Dive Centre and Extreme Watersports were booked to run the dive clean-ups at 6 separate dive sites and the EDA team led Majid Al Futtaim and Dubai Duty Free, joined by Ithra Dubai down to Sandy Beach’s public beach. Then, on the 24 th of November, we headed out once again with Emirates NBD for the fourth clean-up event. The dive clean-ups collected 330 kg of rubbish between them and the beach clean-ups (same location) amounted to 292 kg.

Platinum Partner, Majid Al Futtaim with His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

Gold Partner, Dubai Duty Free with His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

HOW CLEANUP ARABIA WORKS In order to make the rubbish count accurate, each volunteer has to fill their bags and return to the drop point to firstly weigh theirbag,and then empty the contents onto our tarpaulin mat for visual reference. Once the clean-up time ends, the volunteers regroup and partner up to count and tally each item listed on the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup form. Not only do we get to see how much rubbish we collect as a group, but we understand where our responsibilities lie.

In the past, we used to count and collect rubbish at the same time, but this proved to be an inaccurate system and once the rubbish was out of sight, it was out of mind. We all take part in dive clean-ups and beach clean-ups to make a difference, and in order to make that difference count, we need to see the whole of the problem we are trying to solve. Although this is more work than the previous system, it is in fact the more accurate method required from us. We need statistics to hand them over to our governments and the industries that create these items.

Ithra Dubai with His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

People are the biggest problem of all, as it is because of people our environment is so polluted. Education is instilled in us through imitation at an early age. We are responsible for educating those around us, so lets inspire change in others that are less educated than ourselves, and for this to work, we need to do it together.

IMPROVEMENTS In 2018, we introduced our sustainable Cleanup Arabia T-shirt design which EDA members keep for all future Cleanup Arabia events they participate in, including this year’s clean-up. We no longer have any T-shirts wasted due to out of date branding.

Another accomplishment, which we are especially proud of this year, is having finally banished plastic water bottles from all our events and replaced them with water dispensers. Our members now bring their own refillable water bottles to refill from the drinking water stations. This was a great success at our main event’s lunch buffet at the Radisson Blu Resort Fujairah.

THANK YOU Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time and hard work to making this difference with us, and a big thank you to His Excellency Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment for attending the event to be with us.