What is Operation Ozone?
Operation Ozone is an initiative set up by Volunteer in Dubai by popular demand. Our recent Beach Clean Up's have caught the eyes and interest of thousands of residents in the UAE, mainly because they are just a little bit different.
Beach Clean Ups have been around for many years globally but it’s only recent that people started making more effort. We’ve experienced oil spills and toxic waste thrown into rivers and seas but now, a more deadly and hidden toxic waste have been uncovered on our beautiful beach grounds: cigarette filters.
It has been argued that cigarette butts take 12 years to bio-degrade but other researchers that say they are dont bio-degrade AT ALL. We personally believe the latter and also that smokers may not realize that their actions have such a lasting, negative impact on the environment. Hence the Operation Ozone campaign.
Each year, smokers worldwide deposit 4.5 trillion cigarette butts. That's over 8 million a minute. That's so many that if you stacked them on top of each other, end to end, they would stretch to the moon and back - 150 times. Most cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic. The white fibers you see in a cigarette filter are NOT cotton, but a plastic that can persist in the environment as long as any other form of plastic.
“Cigarette butts are not just ugly—they also present a threat to wildlife. Plastic pieces have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures that mistake them for food. So ingestion of plastic cigarette filters is a threat to wildlife” according to Clean Virginia Waterways.
In response to this, Volunteer in Dubai launched the Operation Ozone project that has an aim to collect a target of 500,000 cigarette filters from the beautiful UAE beachfronts by the end of 2011.
And to do that, we need
your help! To particpate in our next Beach Clean Up, please register on our website
www.volunteerindubai.com.
