Eleven volunteers -including employees of the Basque plant and their families- represented Aludium by creating a rubbish collection point on mount Urkiola for the national campaign ‘1m2 against rubbish’, which aims to eliminate abandoned waste from natural spaces in Spain. More than 11,000 volunteers combed almost 700 points throughout Spain last Saturday, June 11.
June 15, 2022. Free nature of garbage and raise awareness and mobilize citizens to keep natural spaces free of garbage (abandonment of waste in nature). That is the main objective of LIBERA, a national project created by SEO/BirdLife in alliance with Ecoembes that proposes solutions around three axes: knowledge, prevention and participation to minimize the environmental impact caused by the abandonment of waste in the natural ecosystems of Spain.
The action ‘1m2 against garbage’, an annual collaborative meeting to collect garbage from natural environments, took place last Saturday, June 11, on Mount Urkiola, located in the Urkiola Natural Park, an area close to the company’s facilities in Amorebieta. In line with the corporate volunteering actions that the company has been carrying out for a long time and as part of its environmental commitment, the Basque plant participated in this action to raise environmental awareness by creating a garbage collection point that collected 22 kilos of waste found in the Urkiola Natural Park, province of Bizkaia.
“From Aludium we wanted to raise awareness about this environmental problem from the action itself”, says Joaquim Vaz, VP of Human Resources & EHS at Aludium. “Caring for the natural environment and protecting local biodiversity are objectives that are part of our sustainability strategy and we saw this campaign as an opportunity to minimize the environmental impact of the area near the company while promoting teamwork and personal ties between co-workers”, adds Joaquim Vaz.
Awareness from action
The problem of waste is one of the great environmental crises that our planet is suffering today. Based on our environmental commitment, 11 volunteers, including employees of the Basque plant and their families, represented Aludium by creating a garbage collection point in the ‘1m2 against garbage’ campaign. The action consisted of collecting the largest amount of rubbish, counting it, weighing it and depositing it in the appropriate containers. “It was a very complete experience. The setting was spectacular and the company, unbeatable”, comments one of the volunteers. “We worked as a team to collect waste: some carried plastic and others paper, glass, organic and the rest, but we all collected everything”, adds another attendee. The action was open to the whole family and was enriching and enjoyable since “it is an opportunity to get to know people, and not the position they occupy, within an organization”, they point out. “The children were very involved and attentive to finding litter and brought a great sense of humor. Adults were also involved”, she comments. As for the waste, what they found the most was plastic and paper. “When you look there is more waste than meets the eye”, reveals the group of participants.
Even the forest ranger in the area was surprised to see the group of volunteers collecting waste. “The mountain ranger came to congratulate us. He couldn’t believe that there were people picking up garbage instead of throwing it away”, they conclude with a laugh. Actions change realities. At Aludium we act to make it possible.
