Foremarke Pupils Lead Drive to Reduce Plastic Pollution

Special to TAG Educa News Agency

DUBAI - Marking the 22nd UAE National Environment Day, students at Foremarke Dubai are carrying out a sustainability initiative to reduce plastic pollution according to the foremarke school.

Foremarke School has partnered with Simply Bottles, an organisation that works with schools and businesses in the UAE to educate, engage and equip communities to reduce plastic pollution and increase the recycling rates of plastic water bottles. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UN Environment), it is estimated that only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced gets recycled, about 12% is incinerated, while the rest — 79% gets accumulated in landfills, dumps or the natural environment.

As part of the ongoing initiative, the school has established a group, called the “Green Team” which is tasked with gathering empty plastic bottles and bringing them to school. The accumulated bottles are submitted to Simply Bottles and are recycled to provide feedstock for the world’s first “bottle to yarn” recycling facility in the UAE, which involves the transformation of plastic bottles into yarn to be used for manufacturing clothes. The school has successfully gathered enough plastic bottles to fill four huge recycling bags provided by Simply bottle since the drive began in September 2018. Other initiatives which form part of Foremarke’s go green pledge include avoiding using any single use plastic items such as knives and forks currently in use in the dining hall and looking into creating a small eco garden.

Zoe Woolley, Headmistress, Foremarke Dubai comments, “It’s very important that children value the world in which they live and that they can understand sustainability and appreciate its benefits.  Schools and their students can play a key role in recycling initiatives, making a very valuable contribution to the drive to reduce the amount of plastic waste that finds its way into our landfills and oceans, and mindful of this, we have assisted Simply Bottles.  The initiative has served to educate our students about the devastating effects of plastic pollution on our planet, while at the same time motivating them to take action and help prevent it.”