Environmental Initiative Contest to create awareness launched

Muscat, April 16 - A novel initiative to create awareness on curbing the use of plastic has been launched by the Ministry of Environment and climate Affairs in cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). The Best Environmental Initiative Contest aims at educating people on the serious hazard involved in plastic and reduce its use in Oman. Speaking at the event to launch the initiative on Tuesday, Najeeb al Rawas, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, stressed on the urgent need to minimise the use of plastic in the country. “This is an issue has to be taken seriously as plastic is used in the manufacture of plenty of materials around us. It is a challenging issue because of its adverse impacts on environment and public health”, he said. At the same time, Manar, the Head of the Contest Committee said that plastic is number one cause of cancer in the world. “It is a silent environmental disaster that causes a million marine bird and 100,000 marine animals to die. Only 6.5 per cent recycling efforts are taking place in the world. We are proud that Oman is the first GGC country which put the engineered landfills into effect for a better consumption of gas and energy,” she added. Omaimah al Yarubi, a housewife, who tries to reduce the use of plastic in her house, apart from educating the children about the dangers of plastics, provides them with alternatives materials. She insists on using towels instead of tissues and she reduces the use of bottled water by using filtered water from the tap. “We cannot stop waste production entirely, but everyone can make a significant contribution by starting from our own houses. It saves energy and natural resources, helps to reduce pollution and reduces the need for landfill”, she advises. The contest, apart from educating people about the dangers in the use of plastics, it also encourages factories and companies to do plastic recycling and find alternative solutions for plastic. The contest awards are expected to support the sustainability of plastic recycling projects by getting funds to keep the project development. The targeted categories are students, voluntary groups and individuals, and SMEs. The awards are divided as follows: School children will get RO 300 and 200 for the first and second places alternatively. For university and colleges students, the prize is RO 500 and 600. The individuals and voluntary groups and SMEs, the prize is RO 1000 and 800. The initiatives are accepted under some conditions. It should be implemented in the Sultanate. Petroleum companies are excluded from the participation. Any participant is allowed to participate with one project only. The participating initiative should have a positive impact at reducing the plastic use. Application to the contest started April 16 to June 1st, 2019 and results will be announced July 1st, 2019.