Through the Community Volunteer Initiative, Dubai Municipality mobilised 1,500 volunteers from various categories of people, employees of public and private establishments, students, families and people of determination, who are interested in environmental services and cleanliness of the city.

"Through the participation of the environmental volunteer teams in the first half of this year, we have been able to collect more than 130,000 cigarette butts using 170 specialised volunteer hours for this purpose only," said Abdul Majeed Sifai, Director of Waste Management Department and Head of the Awareness Team on Sustainable Waste Management in Dubai Municipality.

"Since the beginning of this year, nearly 1,500 volunteer hours have been completed and these 1,500 participants have represented more than 32 organisations, a significant increase over last year. The increase in the number of participants reflects the success of the initiative in attracting the largest number of participants, which is the fruit of marketing our activities through the social media networking sites," Sifai pointed out.

He said the volunteers accomplished many tasks, such as removing cigarette butts from the beaches, removing random posters in commercial areas, getting rid of the waste in the land areas, cleaning industrial and residential areas, and contributing to the field of awareness.

Sifai stressed the importance of creating and supporting voluntary opportunities because of their clear contributions in supporting the efforts of preserving the environment and the civilised appearance of the emirate.

He said the Department’s initiative, "An Hour with the Cleaning Worker," was one of the most important opportunities for enthusiasts to volunteer in the area of cleaning the city and charitable work, which clearly contributes to spreading the culture of social responsibility among the members of the community.

Sifai said this is a continuous opportunity to volunteer throughout the year without restricting it to a clean-up campaign or programme