Participants during the beach cleanup campaign.
Doha: United Development Company (UDC), the master developer of The Pearl and Gewan Islands, held two campaigns aimed at protecting the marine environment; Beach Cleanup Drive at Bahri Villas South beach, and World Water Day awareness campaign that aims to promote the usage of automated water taps instead of traditional ones.
These initiatives were launched to commemorate Global Recycling Day, which is celebrated annually on March 18, and World Water Day is celebrated on March 22, where the two campaigns highlight the role recycling plays in reducing waste and preventing water pollution, leading to a healthier marine environment.
In partnership with Seashore Recycling, UDC and its affiliate companies Qatar Cool, Ronautica Middle East, Hospitality Development Company, and Corinthia Yacht Club, participated in a beach cleanup at Bahri Villas South at The Pearl Island, to reflect their commitment towards protecting marine life and promoting a healthy marine ecosystem. The campaign saw the active participation of residents, staff, families, and volunteers.
Recycling is integrated in almost every aspect of UDC’s operations, contributing to a healthy ecosystem for the entire community, as part of globally recognized waste management mechanisms, recycling strategy, and other environmentally friendly initiatives such as paperless transactions, automated waste collection system, environmentally friendly packaging, smart lighting, and usage of single use drinking bottles to eliminate plastic usage.
The annual Global Recycling Day at The Pearl Island demonstrates the strength and unity of The Pearl community in their willingness to keep the environment clean and comes as an opportunity to showcase team efforts and community engagement in protecting The Pearl Island’s shores and coastlines.
With this year’s theme, “Be the change you want to see in the world”, World Water Day 2023 was celebrated with a message that encouraged the community to take action by changing the way they use, consume and manage water through switching all their water taps into automated ones, emphasizing that this simple change can result in up to 70% reduction in water consumption across the entire Island. Automated water taps are useful due to their ability to reduce water consumption, through a allows a touchless sensor that allows water to flow when needed, in an effortless manner.
UDC has always been driven by water sustainability, supporting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: Water and Sanitation for all by 2030. To achieve this goal, UDC has developed several initiatives and projects which include the placement of automated water taps in all offices, that will reduce water consumption by 22,200 cbm, as well as substituting freshwater with recycled and treated sewage effluent water to irrigate the entire Island landscape which spans a land area of 650,000 sqm (equivalent to 91 football pitches).
