My Tree in Dubai

Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), with the support of Wunderman Dubai, an advertising agency that specializes in direct engagement with consumers, launched the ‘My Tree in Dubai’ campaign back on the 7th February 2010 to promote paper recycling in Dubai.
The campaign gave people an opportunity to recycle paper and get a tree planted in their name, in the city of Dubai. It was made easy to participate and join EEG's Recycling Campaign, due to the simple registering online via the ever popular networking site Facebook. By visiting www.mytreeindubai.com and following the effortless steps, participants could start recycling immediately. The reward for recycling over 60kg of paper in one month was a tree planted with a name tag, at a specially arranged tree planting event at the end of the campaign. However, with only 250 trees up for grabs, participants were encouraged to get collecting fast! This innovative campaign also supports and contributes to UNEP's Billion Tree Campaign, which EEG is proud to be part of.
Since its inception, in February, the facebook application was downloaded by 82 members in the first 3 weeks, out of which 12 members recycled 60kg of paper. People also started becoming a fan of this application and also invited their friends to join, helping to spread the message across Dubai creating a ripple effect. Support was also offered from Dubai's Top radio stations including Radio 1, Radio 2 and Cool FM, who planted trees at the EEG Centre.
As part of the campaign promotion, EEG set up a unique stand at Mall of the Emirates from the 11th -17th March. They placed a barren tree, on which, first the advertising leaflets were hung from the branches and later, leaves were hung up with names of people who joined the campaign. This created a lot of curiosity and excitement, encouraging people to join the campaign and add their names to a leaf on the barren tree.
The Mall of the Emirates also invited school children to the stand to give them an insight into the importance of recycling and the bigger picture to planting trees for the planet. 7 Days also distributed 26,000 bio-degradable plastic bags to encourage its readers to join the campaign by collecting paper in the bag and dropping it into the EEG Office for recycling.
My Tree in Dubai has now come to a ceremonious close. With the valued support of Dubai Municipality, a grand tree planting event was held on the 24th April 2010 – the regional environment day. With participants covering all sectors of society including individuals, families, private establishments, corporate companies, government institutions, media and the Dubai Girl Scouts, all 250 trees that were dedicated to the campaign have been planted by the participants who were extremely proud to add their name tag to the tree that they have earned through recycling paper. EEG Chairperson, Mrs. Habiba Al Marashi said, “For the first time, EEG is giving people a chance to recycle their paper into trees and see the results for themselves.” In total over 30 tons of paper was collected for recycling since February and the campaigns’ popularity and success has been astonishing. EEG managed to engage with the community via facebook, to involve many people in a social and environmental campaign, creating a double positive outcome for Dubai and the environment.