A VIBRANT yellow bus will be turning heads as it tours cities and villages during the holy month to raise awareness of the need to preserve the environment and avoid food wastage.
The Ramadan Environmental Caravan, equipped with the latest technologies and adorned with attractive images and slogans, was launched yesterday by the Northern Municipality in collaboration with the Northern Municipal Council.
It aims to instil social responsibility in citizens and residents, and encourage them to join hands to make a change for a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future for the country.
A female instructor who will be travelling in the bus will also inform people about ways to deal with household and hazardous waste during Ramadan as well as the schedule for garbage removal as part of the drive.
Northern Municipality director-general Lamya Al Fadhala said the campaign would highlight the negative impact of a ‘culture of irrational consumption of food items’.
“We need to inform the community of the hazards of surging household waste and promote the values of rationalisation during the holy month,” she said, as the bus was flagged off yesterday for its first journey from the Northern Municipality building in Budaiya.
“These values are ingrained in Islamic faith and the campaign aims to raise community awareness on the need to change social behaviour in relation to the environment. We will also stress the importance of preserving greenery following the successful ‘Plant Trees of Reward and Charity’ launched during Ramadan last year,” she added.
Northern Municipal Council chairman Dr Sayed Shubbar Al Wedaei said the Eco-bus aims to highlight the importance of food security.
The GDN earlier reported that municipal councillors had called on the public to shop, cook and eat smarter to reduce food wastage during Ramadan. They also urged citizens to cut down on lavish iftars and suhoors, claiming that around 35pc of food purchased during the holy month were being dumped in landfills.
“We need to cut down on domestic waste to enhance environmental security and contribute to achieving the goals of the National Project for Sustainable Development,” Mr Al Wedaei said.
He added that although the bus campaign prioritises building social awareness in rationalising the preparation of Ramadan spreads and reducing dumping of excess food, “the goal is to transform decisions and create an effective system”.
The initiative is part of the fifth edition of the annual campaign ‘Our Environment is Different during the Blessed Month’.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index had revealed earlier that people in Bahrain threw away 146,000 tonnes of food in 2020, costing the country BD94.9 million.
It was reported last year that food waste in Bahrain was transported to the Hafeera landfill in Askar where it was compacted and covered with sand to avoid vermin and insect infestations.
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