I would like to share an innovative event I designed and successfully conducted as part of my awareness for community recycling. Having been playing table tennis (Ping Pong) since early childhood, and paper recycling was part of my green living since several years, I wanted to make a collective impact by trying to combine both passions and organizing an event. I wanted to make a small awareness presentation on the 3 Rs with few other kids, and encourage the players to recycle paper with me for a collective greener impact.

My birthday was on 21/10, and instead of accepting the IPhone which my Mom wanted to gift, I requested her to help me sponsor and conduct an event for me. We approached ADTTA (Abu Dhabi table tennis academy), who conduct a lot of big ping pong events and they gladly agreed to conduct it for us. I designed the theme, flyer, placards, trophies, medals etc. and in order to encourage the players to bring papers for recycling, we gave a waiver of the registration fees if they contributed >20 kgs. The kids who contributed >50 kgs were appreciated with a certificate and medal. The event was conducted successfully on 25/10/19, with about 120 plus players turning up and I was so excited with the enthusiasm in the players. The kids category had about 60 players. We made a brief talk on the 3 Rs and the importance of recycling. I also gifted an indoor potted plant for the champions to be in line with the green theme. I chose Peace Lily which purifies the air and increases positivity at homes.

I had also collected papers for a month in preparation for the event, and it was heartening to see so many kids and players taking a lot of effort to carry bags of papers to the venue even from distant home locations, and some even gave up to 75 kgs. I also had requested students to bring their old story books for charity, and managed to collected about 50 good story books which I donated to a local library run by the Sharjah Indian Association. My accumulated collections after the event was 1280 kgs. The direct environmental benefits are saving 22 trees, 486.4 gallons oil, 3.84 cubic yards, 8960 gallons water and 5120 kw energy (Reference site - https://www.usi.edu/recycle/paper-recycling-facts - 1000 kgs saves 17 trees, 380 gallons oil, 3 cubic yards, 7000 gallons wter and 4000 kw energy). In continuation of my Recycle for charity event, I recycled the papers at Union Paper Mills and donated the AED 450 I received for the papers to buy 15 ghaf seeds from Give a Ghaf tree planting program by Goumbook. I will invite the children who brought papers for the community recycling for the community tree planting event scheduled in early December.

The multiple benefits I achieved were:

·         Spreading awareness on 3 Rs during the event and encouraging community recycling.

·         Direct environmental benefits from recycling 1280kgs through a single event

·         Planting 15 ghaf seeds during the community tree plantation event in December

·         Donation of approximately 50 story books to a local library

Many children promised to continue recycling papers at their home and from neighbours after the event, and several families have approached me to collect papers from them on a regular basis.

I am happy to have inspired several kids through the event and this will definitely go a long way for a greener tomorrow as the youth are the future for a sustainable planet, and every small step matters.