JASCO celebrates Earth Day 2016
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Earth Day was celebrated globally this year on 22 April, and the JASCO Applied Sciences team joined in the movement to keep the planet beautiful with two litter clean-up initiatives in the company’s Halifax and Victoria offices in Canada. JASCO members and friends gathered in numbers to tackle rubbish in local parks and neighbourhoods. The collected items were later sorted for recycling as far as possible. But personal involvement to helping the planet does not stop at just one day. A member of the JASCO team in the UK embraces the environment on a monthly basis by organizing litter clean ups in his community, and many others throughout company branches worldwide contribute in whatever way they can to reduce their environmental footprint every day of the year.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
When planning for Earth Day, project scientists Emily Maxner and Katie Kowarski rose to the challenge and engaged their fellow JASCO team members in the company’s largest location to make a difference in their community by picking up rubbish and recyclables from the green spaces around the Troop Avenue office and on an adjacent sports field. The team of 28 people collected 15 bags of litter, showing a superb level of engagement, a healthy dose of humour and camaraderie and a keen sense of local responsibility for the environment.
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Each year the Victoria office chooses a new clean-up activity to celebrate Earth Day. This time a group of 11 JASCO members organized themselves into 2 teams to tidy up the Colquitz River Trail, one of the target locations of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. The area is a favourite of local residents, walkers and bicyclists, some of whom when passing expressed their thanks and encouragement to the team. The majority of the 8 bags of rubbish and recyclable items was collected along the roadside and under the bridges adjacent to the trail.
Making the environment a priority all year round
Earth Day can be every day of the year for members of JASCO, whose motivation to help the planet extends effortlessly from their projects at work to personal and community life. Over the past four and a half years, Steve Hipsey from the company’s UK branch has been organizing parties of 20-30 local volunteers who go out every month and tidy up their community. The local authority, who disposes of the collected litter, estimates they’ve collected about 6.3 tonnes, and the efforts of the group have been recognized repeatedly by the regional press.
· Rain does not deter litter pickers
