Abdul Muqeet Abdul Mannan

Abdul Muqeet has demonstrated his commitment to saving the environment in Abu Dhabi and beyond since he was 10 years old.

Inspired by the 2010 campaign “UAE Free of Plastic Bags”, Abdul Muqeet, a student at the Abu Dhabi Indian School, applied his own initiative and imagination to create 100% recycled carry bags using discarded newspapers. He then set out to distribute these bags throughout the Abu Dhabi community, replacing plastic bags that take hundreds of years to biodegrade.

What began as a daily hobby has become a much larger community campaign. During the first year of his campaign, Abdul Muqeet created and donated more than 4,000 paper bags in Abu Dhabi. Since then, he has also led workshops at schools, companies and government entities, demonstrating how to create paper bags using old newspapers. He has also partnered with grocery stores in his local area to distribute the bags. His school along with a number of companies in Abu Dhabi adopted his idea by exchanging their plastic bags for paper bags.

In 2011, Abdul Muqeet was selected to attend the United Nation’s Tunza conference in Indonesia where he was able to demonstrate his commitment for a cleaner environment through his paper bag initiative. He has also represented the UAE at a number of conferences in, and outside, the UAE.

Abdulmuqeet participated in a number of campaigns, for example the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ campaign organized by the Center for Waste Management – Abu Dhabi across Abu Dhabi and the Western Region.

Supported throughout by his mother and father, older brother and sister, this young boy is an inspiring example to all. Through his early awareness and love for the land in which he lives, he has turned a simple idea into an opportunity for the entire community.