University to start recycling

Students convince Zayed University to start up a recycling scheme after presenting their graphic design project with a theme of reducing waste.

Bookmarks designed by the students are aimed at promoting recycling.

ABU DHABI // Zayed University will begin a recycling scheme in September after three students convinced it to set one up. Quds al Qahtani and Salama al Rumaithi, both 22, and Moza al Mansouri, 24, presented their final-year graphic design project, a campaign to reduce waste and encourage recycling, at the Abu Dhabi campus yesterday.

University officials were so impressed they decided to make the idea a reality as of the next academic year. The Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) will provide recycling bins for paper, aluminium, plastic and glass. "Until now we have done nothing sustainable to support conservation or the environment," said Kevin Schoepp, the assistant director of the Abu Dhabi campus. "But very soon we will have a Greener Campus Committee and one of the first things they will do is bring in on-campus recycling. After the summer things will start moving."

Yesterday the students distributed posters, booklets, bracelets and bookmarks with information about recycling. They also presented designs for recycling bins. "We live in a throwaway society," said Ms al Rumaithi. "We consume more than we need. With our project we want to change this." Ms al Qahtani said few people were aware of recycling. "We are a small country but we have a lot of waste and we are all responsible to make a change," she said. Moayad Yacoub, an environmental engineer with EEG, said the project was a "good indication" that young people were taking environmental issues seriously.

"In Arabic we have a saying that the world is in the hands of the young," he said. "This is a great example of how the students of today can be the teachers of tomorrow." [e-mail]