The morning of the 24th January 2014 seemed extremely exuberant as crowds of people gushed in the area for the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon 2014. Thousands geared up for the much awaited run and started with a great deal of enthusiasm.  The 3 km fun run was over, and the excited runners gathered to collect their medal.  They were given a blue bag and inside the bag was the medal along with a bottle of water, juice and a packet of chips. I was also one of the 3 KM fun run participants and after collecting my medal, I noticed something that sent me in hysterics. What I saw was enough to make anybody faint.

 Scores of bottles were strewn on the ground right before my very eyes. The ground was enormously littered with water bottles, juice bottles and packets of chips. Not to forget the blue plastic bags that were scattered along the area where the racers had to come after completing their run. This scene filled me with grief as I noticed that the main cause for this was the lack of dustbins. In fact, right after collecting their blue goodie bags, people were taking a swig of water and a sip of juice and then dumping it on the ground at their feet.

 Because of this, not only the park but also the entrance to the park which was starting from the medal collection stall was overflowing  with plastic bottles. I was participating in this run for the eight time and have been doing so since the age of 6. But never have I seen such an atrocious amount of wastage.  Children as young as 4 years old were stumbling and tripping and falling over one another just because of the obstruction created by the bottles. Not only  them but even disabled participants were having difficulty in moving around in their wheel chairs. I would request the municipality to provide large bins at short distances.

 What this act would achieve is that there can be proper disposal of waste and the peaceful mother earth is not littered and there is minimum wastage of our precious resources. Also, I would encourage the authorities to use paper or cloth bags for the purpose of distribution as people were throwing the plastic bags proving that they were not in need. Enforcing this action would result in an eco-friendly practice whilst the grand annual event is held with great pomp and ceremony. This step can result in a huge difference as this event set our waste management cause back by a big margin. All in all the run was a mind blowing experience as it is every year if not taking in account the mass littering done carelessly by the people.