Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) held its annual beach cleaning campaign in Abu Halifa on Thursday morning as part of its social responsibility to help protect the Kuwaiti environment. This campaign was held in cooperation with Export and Marine Operations Group, fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and was under the sponsorship of United Nations environmental programs.

This is the third year that KOC hosted the campaign to help clean the marine environment with other GCC countries participating in the event. "Between 300 - 350 people participated on this event today. This one day, on the same day every year, has been allocated to be a cleaning campaign day. This event is considered one of the Company's various cleaning campaigns in different places throughout Kuwait," Shereen Ameer, Environmental Engineer at KOC, told the Kuwait Times.

This is the third year that the cleaning campaign has been held here in Abu Halifa because this beach is visited by many people. "We chose this beach as it is very popular and has become very polluted. We took photos of the beach before and after it was cleaned up. It was very polluted since we cleaned it last year," added Ameer.

Many schools participated in the campaign, including schools with special needs and at various levels. The Ministries of the Interior, Public Authority for Protecting the Environment, Kuwait Fire Services Directorate and the Medical Emergency Department also participated. Additionally some oil companies, led by National Petroleum Corporation, took part in this campaign.

KOC will be hosting further cleaning campaigns. "The policy of the Kuwait Oil Company in the field of health, safety and environment is to preserve the marine environment. The Company will clean the beaches of Mina Al-Ahmadi and Abu Helefa by volunteers from KOC and other participants," noted Ameer.

The campaign aims to increase environmental awareness between workers in the oil sector and the GCC community. "It aims to deliver a message to all who live on this land, and in other GCC countries, on the importance of preserving the marine environment. The Arabian Gulf is a major source of food, water and trade to support the economy of the Gulf Cooperation Council so it must be maintained by preserving the marine environment. Without the presence of the press and media at this event we cannot spread this message or deliver it to every citizen and resident in Kuwait, or any other country of the GCC," concluded Ameer. - Kuwait Times