Nearly half a million cigarette butts were removed from Dubai’s beaches last year by volunteers working alongside municipal cleaning staff.
The "An hour with a cleaning worker" initiative attracted 2,242 volunteers including students, families and professionals from the private and government sector, according to the Dubai Municipality Waste Management Department.
Most people participated in the clean-up drives on 17 beaches with 400,000 cigarette butts cleared over 1,100 hours, said Abdul Majeed Sifai, director of the department.
The volunteers also removed posters from buildings, waste material from the shore and helped clean industrial and residential areas while raising awareness among the public about cleanliness.
“The initiative can benefit from more community participation in cleaning and maintaining all corners of the city,” Mr Sifai said.
